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+Project Gutenberg's The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico, 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 New Mexico
+
+Author: Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Posting Date: May 26, 2013 [EBook #4991]
+Release Date: January, 2004
+First Posted: April 7, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jim Weiler
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
+
+or
+
+The End of the Silver Trail
+
+
+
+by Frank Gee Patchin, 1910
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+SOMETHING IN THE WIND
+
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"Only one of the boys in the seat behind us, snoring."
+
+"Sure they're asleep?"
+
+"Yes, but what if they're not? They are only kids. They wouldn't
+understand."
+
+"Don't you be too sure about that. I've heard about those kids. Heard
+about 'em over in Nevada. There's four of them. They call themselves
+the Pony Rider Boys; and they're no tenderfeet, if all I hear is true.
+They have done some pretty lively stunts."
+
+"Yes, that's all right, Bob, but we ain't going to begin by getting
+cold feet over a bunch of kids out for a holiday."
+
+"Where they going?"
+
+"Don't know. Presume they'll be taking a trip over the plains or
+heading for the mountains. They've got a stock car up ahead jammed
+full of stock and equipment."
+
+"Scarecrows?"
+
+"No. Good stock. Some of the slickest ponies you ever set eyes on.
+There's one roan there that I wouldn't mind owning. Maybe we can make
+a trade," and the speaker chuckled softly to himself.
+
+A snore louder than those that had preceded it, caused the two men to
+laugh heartily.
+
+The snore had come from Stacy Brown. Both he and Tad Butler were
+resting from their long journey on the Atlantic and Pacific train.
+Further to the rear of the car, their companions, Ned Rector and
+Walter Perkins, also were curled up in a double seat, with Professor
+Zepplin sitting very straight as if sleep were furthest from his
+thoughts. They were nearing their destination now, and within the hour
+would be unloading their stock and equipment at Bluewater.
+
+"They're asleep all right," grinned one of the two men who occupied
+the seat just ahead of Stacy and Tad. "Is old man Marquand going to
+meet us at the station?"
+
+"Oh, no. That wouldn't be a good thing. Might attract too much
+attention. Told him not to. We'll get a couple of ponies at Bluewater
+and ride across the mountains. But we've got to be slick. The old man
+is no fool. He'll hang on to the location of the treasure till the
+last old cat's gone to sleep for good."
+
+"Any idea where the place is?"
+
+"No. Except that it's somewhere south of the Zuni range."
+
+A solitary eye in the seat behind, opened cautiously. The eye belonged
+to Stacy Brown. The last snore had awakened him, and he had lain with
+closed eyes listening to the conversation of the two men.
+
+He gave Tad a gentle nudge, which was returned with a soft pressure on
+Stacy's right arm as a warning that he was to remain quiet.
+
+"Do you know what the treasure consists of?"
+
+"Maybe a mine, but as near as I could draw from Marquand's talk it is
+jewels and Spanish money which one of the old Franciscan monks had
+buried. The Pueblos knew where it was, but they sealed the place up
+after the Pueblo revolution in 1680, and it's been corked tight ever
+since."
+
+"How'd Marquand get wise to it?"
+
+"From an old Pueblo Chief whose life he saved a few months ago. The
+old chief died a little while afterwards, but before he went, he told
+Marquand about the treasure."
+
+"Didn't suppose a redskin had so much gratitude under his tough skin.
+Does the old man know where the place is?"
+
+"No, not exactly. That's where we come in," grinned the speaker. "We
+are going to help him find it."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Oh, well. There's lots of ways to get rid of him."
+
+"You mean?"
+
+"He might tumble off into a canyon, or something of the sort, in the
+night time. Here's the place."
+
+The train was rounding a bend into the little town of Bluewater.
+
+"Sit still," whispered Tad. "I want to get a look at those fellows so
+I'll know them next time I see them."
+
+The Pony Rider boy left his seat, and hurrying to the forward end of
+the car, helped himself to a drink of water from the tank; then slowly
+retraced his steps.
+
+As he walked down the car, he took in the two men in one swift,
+comprehensive glance, then swung his hands to his companions at the
+other end of the car, as a signal that they were arriving at their
+destination.
+
+"Know 'em?" whispered Stacy as Tad began pulling his baggage from the
+rack.
+
+"Never saw either before. Better get your stuff together. This train
+is fast only when it stops. It drags along over the country, but when
+it gets into a station it's always in a hurry to get away," laughed
+Tad.
+
+A few minutes later the party of bronzed young men sprang from the car
+to the station platform, where they instantly became the center of a
+throng of curious villagers.
+
+Readers of the preceding volumes of this series are already too well
+acquainted with the Pony Rider Boys to need a formal introduction. As
+told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES," the lads had set out
+from their homes in Missouri for a summer's vacation in the saddle.
+That first volume detailed how the lads penetrated the fastnesses of
+the Rockies, hunted big game and how they finally discovered the Lost
+Claim, which they won after fighting a battle with the mountaineers,
+thus earning for themselves quite a fortune.
+
+In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS," the boys were again seen to
+advantage. There they joined in a cattle drive across the state as
+cowboys. They played an exciting part in the rough life of the cowmen,
+meeting with many stirring adventures. It will be remembered how, in
+this story, Tad Butler saved a large part of the herd, besides
+performing numerous heroic deeds, including the saving of the life of
+a member of the party from a swollen river. At the end of their
+journey, they solved a deep mystery--a mystery that had perplexed and
+worried the cattle men, besides causing them heavy financial loss.
+
+In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA," the scene shifted to the old
+Custer Trail, the battle ground of one of the most tragic events in
+American history. The story described how Tad Butler overheard a plot
+to stampede and kill a flock of many thousand sheep; how after
+experiencing many hardships, he finally carried the news to the owner
+of the herd; then later, participated in the battle between the cowmen
+and sheep herders, in which the latter emerged victorious.
+
+It will be recalled too, how the Pony Rider Boy was captured by the
+Blackfeet Indians and taken to their mountain retreat, where with a
+young companion he was held until they made their escape with the
+assistance of an Indian maiden; how they were pursued by the savages,
+the bullets from whose rifles singing over the heads of the lads as
+they headed for a river into which they plunged, thus effectually
+throwing off the savage pursuers; and finally, how in time they made
+their way back to the camp of the Pony Riders, having solved the
+mystery of the old Custer Trail.
+
+After these exciting adventures, the lads concluded to cut short their
+Montana trip and go on to the next stage of their journeyings, which
+was destined to be even more stirring than any that had preceded it.
+How Tad Butler and Stacy Brown proved themselves to be real heroes,
+was told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS."
+
+For a long time, an organized band of thieves had been stealing stock
+in the Ozark range, baffling all efforts to apprehend them. The boys
+had been warned to guard their own stock carefully, but despite this,
+their ponies were stolen from camp, one by one and in a most
+mysterious manner, until not an animal was left. Then, one by one, the
+Pony Rider Boys became lost until only Tad and Stacy remained. They
+were facing starvation, and it will be recalled how Tad Butler made a
+plucky trip to the nearest mining camp for assistance. There the boys
+were imprisoned underground by a mine explosion; escaping from which,
+they met with perils every bit as grave, and from which they were
+eventually rescued by Stacy himself.
+
+Through the disaster, the lads solved the Secret of the Ruby Mountain,
+thus putting an end for good to the wholesale thieving in the Ozark
+range.
+
+Though the Pony Rider Boys had suffered many hardships in their
+journeyings, those that lay before them were destined to try them even
+more. In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI," they faced the perils of
+the baking alkali desert. It will be recalled how they fought
+desperately for water when all the usual sources of supply were found
+to have run dry; how Tad and Stacy Brown were captured by a desert
+hermit and thrown into a cave; how, after their escape, they were lost
+in the Desert Maze, and how after many hardships, they finally
+succeeded in making their way to camp, dragging behind them a wild
+coyote that Tad had roped when the boys were beset by the wild beasts
+in the dead of night.
+
+Nothing daunted by their trying experiences the Pony Rider Boys set
+out on the concluding trip of the season--a journey over the historic
+plains and mountains of New Mexico. After a long railroad ride, they
+had finally arrived at the town of Bluewater, from which they were to
+begin their explorations in the southwest.
+
+A guide was to meet and conduct them across the mountains of the Zuni
+range and so on to the southern borders of the state.
+
+By the time they reached the platform of the station, the stock car
+had been uncoupled and was being shifted to a side track where they
+might unload their belongings at their leisure.
+
+"I wonder where that guide is," said Tad.
+
+"He was told to be here," answered the Professor.
+
+"Never mind; we can unload better without him," averred Ned, starting
+off at a brisk trot for their car which had been shunted alongside the
+platform at the rear of the station.
+
+With joyous anticipation of the new scenes and experiences that lay
+before them, the lads set briskly to work, and within an hour had all
+the stock and equipment removed from the car.
+
+There was quite an imposing collection, with their ponies, their
+burros, tents and other equipment, the latter lying strewn all over
+the open level space beyond the station.
+
+"Looks as if a circus had just come to town," laughed Walter.
+
+"We've got a side show, anyway," retorted Ned.
+
+"What's our side show?"
+
+"Chunky's that."
+
+"No; he's the clown. The rest of us are the animals, only we're not in
+cages."
+
+"Hey, fellows, see that funny Mexican on the burro there," laughed
+Chunky. "Guess he never saw an outfit like ours before."
+
+The lads could not repress a laugh as they glanced at the figure
+pointed out by Stacy.
+
+The man was sitting on the burro, his feet extended on the ground
+before him, hands thrust deep into trousers pockets. He was observing
+the work of the boys curiously. The fellow's high, conical head was
+crowned by a peaked Mexican hat, much the worse for wear, while his
+coarse, black hair was combed straight down over a pair of small,
+piercing, dark eyes. The complexion, or such of it as was visible
+through the mask of wiry hair, was swarthy, his form thin and
+insignificant.
+
+Stacy Brown strode over to him somewhat pompously.
+
+"You speak English?" questioned the boy.
+
+"Si, seņor."
+
+The Mexican's lips curled back, revealing two rows of gleaming, white
+teeth.
+
+"I'm glad to hear it. I didn't think you could. We are looking for a
+guide who was to have met us here to conduct us over the mountains.
+His name is Juan. It'll be something else when he does show up. Do you
+know him?"
+
+"Si, seņor."
+
+"Isn't he coming to meet us?"
+
+"Si, seņor."
+
+"Well, I must say he's taking his time about getting here. Where is
+he?"
+
+"Juan here, seņor."
+
+"Here? I don't see him," answered the lad, looking about the place.
+
+"Me Juan," grinned the Mexican. "You?"
+
+"Never mind the seņor. I'll take for granted I'm a seņor, or whatever
+else you think. Say, fellows, come here," commanded Stacy.
+
+"Well, what's the matter?" demanded Ned, approaching, followed by the
+other boys.
+
+"This is it," announced Stacy, with a wave of his hand toward the
+Mexican.
+
+"What is it?" sniffed Ned.
+
+"This."
+
+"Chunky, what are you getting at?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Perhaps this gentleman will know where we may find our guide,"
+interrupted the Professor, coming up. "Seņor, do you know one Juan--"
+
+"Yes, he knows him," grinned Stacy. "He's very well acquainted with
+the gentleman."
+
+"Then where may we find this Juan
+
+"That's Juan--that's your guide," Stacy informed the Professor.
+
+"You--are you the guide?"
+
+"Si, seņor."
+
+The Professor opened his eyes in amazement. The burro, on the other
+hand, stood with nose to the ground sound asleep, oblivious to all
+that was taking place about him.
+
+"Why didn't you make yourself known--why haven't you helped us to
+unload?" demanded the Professor in an irritated tone.
+
+"Me no peon. Me guide."
+
+"He's a guide," explained Stacy. "Guides don't work, you know,
+Professor. They are just ornaments. He and the burro are going to pose
+for our amusement."
+
+The boys laughed heartily. Professor Zepplin uttered an exclamation of
+impatience.
+
+"Sir, if you are going with this outfit you will be expected to do
+your share of the labor. There are no drones in our hive."
+
+"No; we all work," interposed Stacy.
+
+"And some of us are eaters," added Ned.
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his pearly teeth.
+
+At the Professor's command, however, Juan stepped off the burro
+without in the least disturbing that animal's dreams and lazily began
+collecting the baggage as directed by the Professor. After the
+equipment had been sorted into piles, the boys did it up into neat
+packs which they skillfully strapped to the backs of the burros of
+their pack train. Juan, lost in contemplation of their labors, forgot
+his own duties until reminded of them by Stacy, who gave the guide a
+violent poke in the ribs with his thumb.
+
+Juan started; then, with a sheepish grin, became busy again.
+
+It was no small task to get their belongings in packs preparatory to
+the journey; but late in the afternoon the boys had completed their
+task. They had had nothing to eat since early morning. But they were
+too anxious to be on their way to wait for dinner in town.
+
+After making some necessary purchases in the village, the procession
+finally started away across the plain.
+
+"You'll never get anywhere with that sleepy burro, Juan," decided the
+Professor, with a shake of the head.
+
+"Him go fast," grinned the Mexican.
+
+"So can a crab on dry land," jeered Ned.
+
+Just then the guide utter a series of shrill "yi-yi's," whereupon the
+lads were treated to an exhibition such as they never had seen before.
+
+The sleepy burro projected his head straight out before him, while his
+tail, raised to a level with his back, stuck straight out behind him.
+The burro, seemingly imbued with sudden life, was off at a pace faster
+than a man could run.
+
+It was most astonishing. The boys gazed in amazement; then burst out
+in a chorus of approving yells.
+
+But it was the rider, even more than the burro, that excited their
+mirth. His long legs were working like those of a jumping jack, and
+though astride of the burro, Juan was walking at a lively pace. It
+reminded one of the way men propelled the old-fashioned velocipedes
+years before.
+
+A cloud of dust rose behind the odd outfit as the party drew out on
+the plains. Their ponies were started at a gallop, which was necessary
+to enable them to keep up with the pace that Juan had set.
+
+"Here! Here!" shouted the Professor.
+
+Juan never looked back.
+
+"We're leaving the pack train. Slow down!"
+
+Laughingly the lads pulled their ponies down to a walk; then halted
+entirely to enable the burros to catch up with them. By this time the
+pack animals had become so familiar with their work that little
+attention was necessary on the part of the boys. Now and then one more
+sleepy than the rest would go to sleep and pause to doze a few minutes
+on the trail. This always necessitated all hands stopping to wait
+until the sleeper could be rounded up and driven up to the bunch.
+
+Juan had disappeared. They were discussing the advisability of sending
+one of the boys out after him when he was seen returning. But at what
+a different gait! His burro was dragging itself along with nose to
+the ground, while Juan himself was slouching on its back half asleep.
+
+"You must have a motor inside that beast," grinned Tad.
+
+"Him go some, seņor?"
+
+"Him do," answered Stacy, his solemn eyes taking in the sleepy burro
+wonderingly.
+
+"Better not waste your energy performing," advised the Professor. "We
+shall need what little you have. We will make camp here, as I see
+there is a spring near by. Help the boys unpack the burros."
+
+"Si, seņor," answered the guide, standing erect and permitting his
+burro to walk from under him.
+
+With shouts and songs the lads, in great good humor, went to work at
+once, pitching their camp for the first time on the plains of New
+Mexico. There was much to be done, and twilight was upon them before
+they had advanced far enough to begin cooking their evening meal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN THE ZUNI FOOTHILLS
+
+
+A sudden wail from the guide attracted the attention of the party to
+him at once. "Now what's the matter?" demanded Tad, hurrying to him.
+
+The guide had thrown himself prone upon the ground and was groaning as
+if in great agony, offering no reply to the question.
+
+"Are you sick?"
+
+"Si, si, seņor," moaned Juan.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Estomago--mucho malo."
+
+"Your stomach?"
+
+"He's got a pain under his apron," diagnosed Stacy solemnly.
+
+"Been working too hard," suggested Ned.
+
+In the meantime the guide was rolling and twisting on the ground,
+glancing appealingly from one to the other of them.
+
+"Professor, hadn't you better fetch your medicine case and dose him
+up?" asked Tad.
+
+"Yes, I'll attend to him."
+
+"Give him a good dose while you are about it," urged Ned. "Something
+that will cure his laziness at the same time."
+
+The Professor brought his case; then, remembering something else in
+his kit that he wanted, he laid the case down and hurried back to his
+tent. However, Stacy opened the case, selecting a bottle, apparently
+at random, drew the cork and held the bottle under Juan's nose.
+
+"Smell of this, my son. It'll cure your estomago on the run."
+
+"Be careful, Chunky, what are you doing there?" warned Tad. "You
+shouldn't fool with the medicines. You--"
+
+His further remarks were cut short by a sudden yell of terror and pain
+from Juan.
+
+The guide leaped to his feet choking, gasping, while the tears ran
+down his cheeks as he danced about as if suddenly bereft of his
+senses.
+
+"Now you've gone and done it," growled Ned. "He never moved so fast in
+his life, I'll wager."
+
+Juan was running in a circle now, shrieking and moaning. Professor
+Zepplin approached them in a series of leaps. He could not imagine
+what new disaster had overtaken the lazy Mexican.
+
+"Here, here, here, what's the trouble now?" He demanded sternly. "Stop
+that howling!"
+
+"Chunky's been prescribing for your patient in your absence," Ned
+informed him.
+
+The Professor grabbed the wild guide by the collar, giving him a
+vigorous shake. When he released his grip, Juan sank to the ground in
+a heap, moaning weakly.
+
+"What's that you say? Stacy prescribed--"
+
+"I--I let him smell of the bottle," explained Stacy guiltily.
+
+"What bottle?"
+
+Stacy slowly picked up the offending bottle and handed it to the
+Professor.
+
+"Ammonia! Boy, you might have put his eyes out! Never let this occur
+again. Remember, you are not to touch the medicines under any
+circumstances whatever!"
+
+"Yes, sir," agreed Chunky meekly, while Ned Rector strolled away,
+shaking with laughter.
+
+"Drink," begged the patient.
+
+"Fetch him some water," directed Professor Zepplin.
+
+"No, no, no, seņor," protested Juan, gesticulating protestingly.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Guess he wants something stronger than water," suggested Ned.
+
+"Si, si, si," agreed the guide, showing his white teeth in an
+approving grin.
+
+"You won't get anything stronger than that in this outfit, unless you
+cook yourself some coffee," muttered Tad.
+
+"That's what's the matter with him," decided Chunky, who had been
+observing the sick man keenly.
+
+"Guess we drew a prize when we got Juan," announced Walter.
+
+"Give him some medicine, anyway," urged Ned. "He is sick--let him
+take the dose."
+
+"Let him have the worst you've got in your case, Professor," added
+Tad, with a laugh.
+
+A grim smile played about the corners of Professor Zepplin's mouth as
+he ran his fingers over the bottles in his medicine case. Finally,
+selecting one that seemed to fit the particular ailment of his
+patient, he directed Chunky to fetch a spoon.
+
+By this time Juan was protesting volubly that he was "all better" and
+did not need the medicine. The Professor gave no heed to the fellow's
+protestations.
+
+"Open your mouth," he commanded.
+
+Juan shut his teeth tightly together.
+
+"Open your mouth!" commanded the Professor sternly. "We want no sick
+men about this camp. It will fix you in a minute."
+
+But the guide steadfastly refused to separate the white teeth.
+
+"Boys, open his mouth while I pour the medicine down him," gritted the
+Professor.
+
+They required no urging to do the Professor's bidding. Tad and Ned
+ranged themselves on either side of the patient, while Chunky sat on
+the guide's feet. Almost before he was aware of their purpose the boys
+had pried his jaws open and into the opening thus made professor
+Zepplin dropped the concoction he had mixed.
+
+The effect was electrical. Juan leaped to his feet as if elevated by
+springs, uttering a yell that might have been heard a mile or more on
+the open plain. But Juan did not run in a circle this time. Acting
+upon the mathematical theory that a straight line is the shortest
+distance between two points, the guide made a break for the spring,
+howling like a madman. The Pony Rider Boys looked on in amazement.
+
+Juan fell on his knees before the spring, dipping up the water in his
+hands.
+
+"What did you give him, professor?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Hot drops!" answered the man of science tersely.
+
+"Not that stuff you fed me when I ate too much honey in the Rockies?"
+questioned Stacy.
+
+"The same."
+
+"Wow! I had ten drops and it felt like a pailful when it got inside of
+me."
+
+"How much did you give Juan?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Twenty drops," answered Professor Zepplin without the suspicion of a
+smile on his face this time.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys added their yells to those of the guide, only with
+a difference. The more Juan drank of the spring water, the more did
+the hot drops burn.
+
+All at once he sprang up and started for the plain.
+
+"Catch him!" commanded the Professor.
+
+With a shout the lads started in pursuit. They overhauled the guide
+some twenty rods from camp, he having proved himself fleet of foot.
+Then again, the fire within him perhaps helped to increase his natural
+speed.
+
+"I burn! I burn!" he wailed as the boys grabbed and laughingly hustled
+him back to camp.
+
+"You'll burn worse than that if you ever ask for liquor in this
+outfit," retorted Ned. "We don't use the stuff, nor do we allow anyone
+around us who does."
+
+"How do you feel now?" grinned the Professor as they came up to him
+with their prisoner.
+
+"He's got a whole camp-fire in his little estomago," announced Chunky
+solemnly, which sally elicited a loud laugh from the boys.
+
+"Give him some olive oil," directed the Professor. "I think the lesson
+has been sufficiently burned into him."
+
+But considerable persuasion was necessary to induce Juan to take a
+spoonful of the Professor's medicine. He had already had one sample of
+it and he did not want another. Yet after some urging he tasted of the
+oil, at first gingerly; then he took it down at a gulp.
+
+"Ah!" he breathed.
+
+"Is it good?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Si. Much burn, much burn," he explained, rubbing his stomach.
+
+"Think you want some liquor still, Juan, or would you prefer another
+dose of my magic drops?"
+
+"No, no, no, seņor!" cried Juan, hastily moving away from Professor
+Zepplin.
+
+"Very well; any time when you feel a longing for strong drink, just
+help yourself to the hot drops," said the Professor, striding away to
+his tent, medicine case in hand.
+
+The guide, a much chastened man, set about assisting in getting the
+evening meal, but the hot drops still remained with him, making their
+presence known by occasional hot twinges.
+
+Supper that night was an enjoyable affair, though it was observed that
+the guide did not eat heartily.
+
+"Do you think he really had a pain?" asked Walter confidentially,
+leaning toward Ned.
+
+"Pain? No. He wanted something else."
+
+"And he got it," added Stacy, nodding solemnly.
+
+A chorus of "he dids" ran around the table, stopping only when they
+reached Juan himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+INDIANS!
+
+
+"Juan, did you see two men get off the train at Bluewater yesterday
+when we did? One of them had a big, broad sombrero like mine?" asked
+Tad, riding up beside the guide next day while they were crossing the
+range.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Know them?"
+
+"Si," he replied, holding up one finger.
+
+"You mean you know one of them?"
+
+The guide nodded.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Seņor Lasar."
+
+"Lasar. What's his other name?"
+
+"Juan not know."
+
+"Did they stop in the village?"
+
+"No. Seņors get ponies, ride over mountain," and the guide pointed
+lazily to the south-west.
+
+"Where did they go? Do you know?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he did not.
+
+"What is Mr. Lasar's business?"
+
+Again the guide answered with a shrug. He seemed disinclined to
+discuss the man in whom Tad Butler was so much interested. Up to that
+time the lad had been too fully occupied with other matters to think
+of the conversation he and Stacy had overheard on the Atlantic and
+Pacific train. Now it came back to him with full force.
+
+"Know anybody by the name of Marquand in this country?" he asked,
+taking another tack.
+
+Juan said he did not, and then Tad gave up his questioning.
+
+"I was asking Juan about the two men who sat ahead of us in the train
+yesterday," he explained to Chunky, as the fat boy joined them.
+
+"Wha'd he say?"
+
+"One is named Lasar, but he did not know the other one. I can't help
+believing that those fellows were plotting to do some one a great
+injury."
+
+"So do I," agreed Chunky. "I guess we had better not say anything
+about it to the others, but we'll try to find out who this man Lasar
+is, and who Mr. Marquand is. Then we'll decide what to do next."
+
+Their further conversation was interrupted by the voice of the
+Professor, announcing that they would halt for their noonday meal. All
+other thoughts left the mind of Stacy Brown when the question of food
+was raised. He quickly slipped from his pony, running back to hurry
+the burros along so as to hasten the meal for which he was yearning.
+Only one burro was unpacked, as it was the intention of the outfit to
+push on soon after finishing their lunch.
+
+While the guide, under Ned's direction, was making it ready, Tad and
+Chunky strolled off to climb a high rock that they had seen in the
+vicinity and which, they thought, might give them a good view of the
+plains to the southwest on the other side of the range.
+
+They had promised to be back in half an hour, but circumstances arose
+that caused them to delay their return considerably.
+
+After threshing through the bushes, over sharp rocks and through
+miniature canyons, they gained at last the object of their quest. The
+distance had been further than they had imagined.
+
+"We'll have to make a short trip of it up to the top and back," said
+Tad. "It has taken us almost all our time to get here. But we'll have
+a look, anyway."
+
+They soon gained the top of the rock, which stood some twenty feet
+higher than the crest of the mountain on which it rested.
+
+"Isn't this great?" exclaimed Tad.
+
+"Might think we were in the Rockies."
+
+"Or the Ozarks."
+
+"I hope we don't have as much trouble here as we did in that range.
+Our guide is not much better than the Shawnee we had for a time on
+that trip. I can't see the foothills, but the plain on beyond is
+pretty clear."
+
+"Hope we don't have to chase all over the desert for water. I--"
+
+Tad grasped his companion by the sleeve and jerked him violently to
+the rock.
+
+"What's up? What's the matter with you?" protested Stacy.
+
+"Keep still, some one's coming."
+
+The lad's keen ears had caught a sound which Stacy had entirely failed
+to hear. It was the sound of horses making their way through the
+bushes. There were several in the party, Tad could tell by the sounds,
+and having in mind the man Lasar, he thought he might perhaps learn
+something of advantage by remaining quietly on the top of the rock.
+
+All this he explained in a few brief words to his companion. Then both
+boys crouched low, peering over the cliff, having first removed their
+sombreros.
+
+What they saw, a few moments later, surprised them very much indeed.
+
+The horsemen in single file suddenly appeared out of a draw to the
+east and headed for the rock where the lads were in hiding.
+
+"Look! Look!" exclaimed Tad in a low, suppressed voice.
+
+"I-n-d-i-a-n-s!" breathed Chunky.
+
+They seemed to rise right up out of the ground, as one by one they
+emerged from the draw to the more level rocks that lay about the
+hiding place of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+"I wonder who they are?" questioned Tad.
+
+"They look savage. I wonder if they'd hurt us, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. I do know, though, that I wouldn't trust those ugly
+faces one second. I thought the Blackfeet were savage, but they're not
+to be compared with these redskins."
+
+A full dozen of them had, by this time, come into view. They sat
+huddled on their ponies, their painted faces just appearing above the
+gayly colored blankets in which they were enveloped.
+
+"They must be cold," muttered Chunky. "Shouldn't think they'd need bed
+clothes around them this time of the year."
+
+"Not so loud, Chunky," warned Tad.
+
+"Know what they are, Tad?"
+
+"I wouldn't say positively, but somehow they look to me like Apaches."
+
+Tad's surmise was correct. The twelve warriors were members of the
+savage band that had in past years caused the Government so much
+trouble and bloodshed.
+
+"They're off their reservation, if they are Apaches," whispered the
+lad.
+
+"What does that indicate, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. They may be on the warpath; then, again, they may be
+down here after game. I'm not sure even, if there is any game here.
+We'll lie still until they get by us. That's the best plan; don't you
+think so?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Lie perfectly still, Chunky. The little bushes in front of us will
+screen us, providing we don't move about. Indians have quick eyes,
+though they do look as if they were half asleep."
+
+"They're getting off their horses, Tad. What does that mean?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+Tad peered through the bushes, noting every move that the redskins
+made. At first he thought they had discovered him and were about to
+surround the rock and take him prisoner. But he soon saw that such was
+not their intention. Tethering their ponies, the Indians cast their
+blankets on the ground, after having first picked out a suitable
+place.
+
+"They're making camp," whispered Tad.
+
+One after another of the savages took out his pipe, and soon the odor
+from burning tobacco was wafted to the nostrils of the hidden Pony
+Rider Boys.
+
+"Guess they're going to get some dinner," decided Stacy, observing
+that the strangers were gathering brush.
+
+This was the case. The ponies had been staked where they could browse
+on the green leaves, and now their masters were about to satisfy their
+own appetites.
+
+Tad groaned.
+
+"What is it?" questioned Stacy apprehensively.
+
+"They will be here half of the day at least. I know a little about
+Indians, having been captured by them once. The difference is that my
+Indians were in a hurry to get somewhere. These fellows seem to have
+all the time in the world. They're waiting--killing time for some
+reason. You'll see, after they finish their dinner, that they will
+smoke some more, then lie down for a catnap."
+
+"And--and what'll we be doing?"
+
+"We'll be hiding on the top of this rock, Chunky."
+
+"Wish I had my rifle."
+
+"Lucky for both of us that you haven't."
+
+The lads had been talking in whispers, but the words fairly froze in
+their mouths, when, upon glancing down they saw the eyes of a savage
+fixed upon them.
+
+"On your life, don't move a muscle, Chunky," whispered Tad, as soon as
+he had recovered his wits.
+
+Tad was not sure that the Indian saw them, yet there could be no doubt
+that the savage eyes were burning into their very own.
+
+Soon, however, the Indian dropped his glances to his pipe bowl and the
+boys breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"Don't move yet, Chunky," directed Tad.
+
+It was a wise command, for almost instantly the Indian glanced in
+their direction again, and, as if satisfied, emptied his pipe and
+stretched out on his blanket. The two lads breathed sighs of relief.
+
+"Did he see us, do you think, Tad?"
+
+"No. At first he thought he saw something up here, but he changed his
+mind after a little, as you observed."
+
+By this time the redskins were cooking their midday meal, and the odor
+nearly drove Stacy frantic. It made him realize how hungry he was. He
+pulled a leaf from a bush and began chewing it in hopes of wearing off
+the keen edge of his appetite.
+
+"How long we got to stay here?" he demanded. "I've a good notion to
+get up and walk back to camp. They don't dare hurt us."
+
+"Lie still!" commanded his companion sternly. "I have a plan that we
+may be able to put into operation. We can't do it now, though."
+
+The lads waited, Tad almost with the patience of an Indian, Chunky ill
+at ease and restless.
+
+"Can't you lie still? What ails you?"
+
+"My stomach's fighting my appetite. Hear 'em growl at each other?"
+
+"S-h-h-h."
+
+"I don't care. I'd 'bout as soon be scalped as to starve to death."
+
+The braves had by now filled their stomachs, gulping their food down
+without the formality of chewing it at all. Stacy's amazement was
+partly mixed with admiration as he observed the food disappear with
+such rapidity.
+
+Now the braves had begun puffing at their pipes. After a time, one by
+one laid down his smoking bowl and stretched himself out for a nap,
+just as Tad had said they would. The savages were spread out so that
+they had a very good view of three sides of the rock on which the two
+lads were perched, but the fourth side was hidden from them. Tad
+decided that, as the Indians showed no intention of moving, they were
+going to remain where they were until night.
+
+"I want you to follow me, Chunky," Butler said, determined to try his
+plan. "You will have to move absolutely without a sound. Look before
+you put down foot or hand. Be sure where you place them. We'll wait a
+few minutes until they're sound asleep."
+
+"What you going to do--sneak?"
+
+"Try to get back to camp. The others will be coming along looking for
+us pretty soon, if we don't get away. The Indians might resent being
+disturbed, and perhaps make trouble."
+
+"Tell me when you're ready, then."
+
+Some minutes had elapsed and the lads could plainly hear the snores of
+their besiegers.
+
+"Now!" whispered Tad.
+
+At the same time he began crawling toward the edge of the rock at
+their rear. Stacy was close upon his heels.
+
+The side which the boys were to descend was much more precipitous than
+the one they had come up by, but offered no very great difficulties
+for two nimble boys. Proceeding with infinite caution, they gained the
+ground without a mishap.
+
+"We'll walk straight on in this direction, until we get out of sight;
+then we can turn to the left and hurry to the camp."
+
+Stacy nodded. As he did so his eyes were off the ground for a few
+seconds. Those few seconds proved his undoing.
+
+The lad stepped on a stone that gave way under him, turning his ankle
+almost upon its side.
+
+"Ouch!" yelled Chunky.
+
+"Now you've done it," snapped Tad. "We'll have the whole pack of them
+down on us. Can you walk?"
+
+"I--I don't know. I'll try."
+
+"Take hold of my hand. You've got to run."
+
+The redskins were on their feet in an instant. A few bounds carried
+them around the rock whence the exclamation had come. By this time Tad
+had dragged his companion into the bushes but not quickly enough to
+elude the keen eyes of the savages.
+
+The Indians uttered a short, sharp cry, then aimed their rifles at the
+figures of the two fleeing Pony Rider Boys.
+
+Tad saw the movement. He threw himself prone upon the ground, jerking
+Chunky down beside him.
+
+They were screened from the eyes of the enemy, for the moment.
+
+"Crawl! Crawl!" commanded Tad.
+
+On hands and feet the boys began running rapidly over the ground, on
+down into a narrow gulch. If they could gain the opposite side they
+would be safe, as it was unlikely that the Indians would follow them
+there. To do so, the boys were obliged to cross an open space. They
+had just reached it, when their pursuers appeared behind them. Once
+more the Indians raised their rifles, their fingers exerting a gentle
+pressure on the triggers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ON THE TRAIL OF JUAN
+
+
+"Look out! They're going to shoot!" cried Tad.
+
+The lads quickly rolled in opposite directions.
+
+"Hallo-o, Tad!"
+
+The call was in the stentorian voice of Professor Zepplin, to which
+Ned Rector added a shout of his own.
+
+Fearing that some ill had befallen Tad and Stacy, the others had
+started out after them. Following them came Walter and the lazy
+Mexican.
+
+"We're down here! Look out for the Indians!" warned Tad in a loud
+voice.
+
+"You're crazy!" jeered Ned. "Come out of that. What ails you fellows?
+The dinner's stone cold and Professor Zepplin is all in the stew."
+
+Tad scrambled to his feet, with a quick glance at the top of the
+ridge, where, but a moment before, half a dozen rifles had been
+leveled at Chunky and himself.
+
+Not an Indian was in sight. Tad was amazed. He could not understand
+it. Grabbing Stacy by an arm he hurried him up the other side of the
+gulch, where they quickly joined their companions.
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded the Professor.
+
+"Hurry! We must get out of this. It's Indians!"
+
+"They--they wanted to scalp us," interjected Stacy.
+
+"But you runned away, eh? Brave man!" chuckled Ned.
+
+"Indians! There are no Indians here.
+
+"I'll tell you about it when we get to camp. They were just about to
+shoot at us when you appeared up here."
+
+"'Pache bad Injun," vouchsafed Juan.
+
+"Were those Apaches?" questioned Tad.
+
+The guide shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I was sure they were, though I do not think I ever saw an Apache
+before. They don't live about here, do they, Juan?"
+
+"'Pache off reservation. Him go dance. Firewater! Ugh!" making a
+motion as if scalping himself.
+
+"I'm hungry," called Stacy.
+
+"Yes; so am I," added Tad. "But I think we had better not wait to eat.
+We can take a bite in the saddle while we are moving."
+
+Stacy protested loudly at this, but Tad's judgment prevailed with the
+Professor, after the boys had related their experience in detail. All
+hands began at once to pack up the few belongings that had been taken
+from the burro, and once more they started on their way, moving
+somewhat more rapidly than had been the case in the early part of the
+day.
+
+"I don't suppose there will be much use in our hurrying, Professor,"
+said the lad, after they had been going a short time. "I know enough
+about Indians to be sure those fellows will follow us until they
+satisfy themselves who and what we are. They are up to some mischief,
+and they thought we were spying on them. Otherwise, I do not believe
+they would have tried to shoot us. Don't know as you could blame them
+much."
+
+"I am inclined to agree with you, Master Tad. It will be good policy
+not to pay any attention to them if we discover any of them. Just go
+right along about our business as if we didn't see them at all."
+
+"And you're not likely to," grinned Tad. "Where did you say they were
+going, Juan?"
+
+"'Pache, go dance."
+
+"He means they're bound for a pow-wow somewhere. That explains it,"
+nodded the lad.
+
+The rest of the day passed without incident. Not a sign of the Indians
+did the boys see. As a matter of fact, the roving redskins were as
+anxious to keep out of the sight of the Pony Riders as the boys were
+to have them do so.
+
+The party enjoyed the trip over the mountains immensely; and, when, a
+few days later, they made camp in the foothills on the southern side
+of the Zuni range, the boys declared that they had never had a better
+time.
+
+Professor Zepplin decided that they would remain in that camp for a
+couple of days, as he desired to make some scientific investigations
+and collect geological specimens. This suited the rest of the party,
+who were free to make as many side trips as they wished, into mountain
+fastnesses or over the plains to the south of them.
+
+Early in the day the guide asked permission to go away for an hour or
+so. They noticed that he had been uneasy, apparently anxious to get
+away for some reason unknown to them.
+
+"He's got something up his sleeve," decided Tad, eyeing Juan narrowly.
+
+"You may go, but we shall expect you back in time for the noon meal,"
+the Professor told him.
+
+"Give me money," requested the guide.
+
+"Certainly. Let me see, you have worked a week. I gave you five
+dollars when we started out. You were to have ten dollars a week while
+you were with us. That leaves five dollars due you," announced the
+Professor.
+
+"Me work week. Me want ten dollars."
+
+"But, my man, I've already paid you five dollars, which pays you for
+half of the week. Here is the five dollars for the other half. That's
+all I owe you. Do you understand?"
+
+"Si seņor. But Juan work one week," protested the guide.
+
+"Let me show him," interrupted Tad. He drew ten marks in the sand with
+a stick, separating them into two groups of five. "Here are ten marks,
+Juan. We'll call them ten dollars. Understand?"
+
+"Si."
+
+"Well, here are the first five marks in the dirt that the Professor
+paid you. How many does that leave?"
+
+"Five," gleamed the white teeth.
+
+"Right. Go to the head of the class," interrupted Stacy.
+
+"Chunky, you keep out of this. You'll mix him up."
+
+"Guess somebody's mixed up already," retorted the fat boy.
+
+"Five is right," continued Tad. "Five dollars is what we owe you. Is
+that clear now?"
+
+"Si, seņor. But I work one week. Juan earn ten dollar--"
+
+"I'll tell you what to do," interjected Ned. "Start all over again.
+You begin work to-day; Juan, and we'll pay you ten dollars for every
+week from now on. You haven't worked for us before to-day, you know."
+
+The lads laughed heartily, but Juan merely showed his teeth,
+protesting that he had earned ten dollars.
+
+"Here," said Tad, thrusting a five dollar bill at him. "You take this.
+It's all we owe you. If you see any of your friends, you ask them how
+much we owe you. They'll tell you the Professor is right."
+
+Juan took the money greedily, still protesting that they owed him ten
+dollars, because he had worked a week. Mounting his burro, he rode
+away; at once falling into the marvelous speed that he had shown them
+on the first day out.
+
+The lads shouted with laughter as they saw burro and rider disappear
+among the foothills, both running for all they were worth, Juan
+uttering his shrill "yi-yi's," as he pedaled the ground.
+
+That was the last they saw of the Mexican guide that day. The rest of
+the day was employed in games, trick riding, rope throwing and the
+like. Stacy found some horned frogs, which were of considerable
+interest to the boys. Chunky made the discovery that the frogs liked
+to have their backs scratched with a stick, and the frogs of the
+foothills probably never spent such a happy day in all their lives as
+Chunky and his stick provided for them that afternoon.
+
+Late in the day, it dawned upon the boys that Juan was still absent.
+They consulted with the Professor about this, upon his return from a
+collecting trip along the foot of the mountains. But the Professor was
+sure Juan would be in in time for supper.
+
+Such was not the case, however. After the meal had been finished Tad
+announced his intention of riding off in the direction Juan had gone,
+to see if the guide could not be found.
+
+"I'll go with you," announced Stacy.
+
+"All right; come along," said Tad, tightening his saddle girths.
+"We'll have a fine gallop."
+
+"Be careful that you do not get lost, boys," warned the Professor.
+
+"Can't get lost. All we have to do is to follow the foothills. We
+shall probably find Juan and his burro sound asleep on an ant-hill
+somewhere. He's positively the laziest human being I ever set eyes
+on."
+
+"Better take along five dollars to bait him with," suggested Ned.
+
+"I've got my stick," said Stacy. "I'll tickle the back of the burro
+and its rider, just as I did the frogs."
+
+"You try that on the burro and he'll kick you into the middle of next
+week," warned Walter.
+
+"Yes," laughed Tad. "Did you see him kick when Juan tossed a tomato
+can against his heels this morning? Kicked the can clear over a tree
+and out of sight."
+
+"He'd make a good batter for the Chillicothe baseball team," suggested
+Chunky. "He'd be the only real batter in the nine. They could turn him
+loose on the umpire when they didn't need him on the diamond. Wouldn't
+it be funny to see some umpires kicked over the high board fence?"
+
+"Come along if you are going with me."
+
+Stacy swung into his saddle, and, galloping off, caught up with Tad,
+who was in a hurry to get back to camp before dark.
+
+"Keep your eyes to the right, Chunky, and I'll look on the left. If
+you see anything that looks like a lazy Mexican and a lazy burro, just
+call out."
+
+"I'll run over them, that's what I'll do," declared the fat boy.
+"Hello, there's a fellow on horseback."
+
+"I see him."
+
+The lads changed their course a little so as to head off the solitary
+horseman, who was loping along in something of a hurry.
+
+"Howdy," greeted the lad.
+
+"Evening, stranger. Where you hail from and where to?"
+
+"We're in camp back here. I'm looking for our guide, a Mexican named
+Juan. He went away this morning and we haven't seen him since."
+
+"And you won't so long as his money holds out," laughed the horseman.
+
+"Then, you've seen him? Will you tell me where I may find him?"
+
+"Sure thing, boy, but I reckon you'd better not be going any further?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"He's over yonder, gambling with some renegade Apaches."
+
+"Apaches!" exclaimed the lads in one voice. "Those must be the same
+fellows we saw up in the range. But how do you suppose he knew they
+were over there?"
+
+"He? Those Greasers know everything except what they ought to
+know--especially if there's any games of chance going on."
+
+"Will you please tell me how we can reach the place? We want to make a
+very early start in the morning, and I don't like to take a chance of
+his not getting back in time."
+
+"If ye're bound to go, keep right along the edge of the foothills. You
+can't miss the place. Better keep away if you don't want to be getting
+into a mix-up. There's going to be lively doings over there pretty
+soon," warned the stranger.
+
+"How do you mean? I've seen Indians before. Guess they won't hurt us
+if they let Juan pow-wow with them."
+
+"This is different, young man. They're going to hold a fire dance
+to-night--"
+
+"A fire dance?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I thought they weren't allowed to do that any more?"
+
+"They ain't, but they will. There's a bunch of Sabobas from over the
+line. They're the original fire eaters. They come over here kind of
+secret like. Then there's Pueblos, 'Paches, and bad ones from every
+tribe within a hundred miles of here. Been making smoke signals from
+the mountains for more'n a week past--"
+
+"I saw that yesterday and thought it was intended as a signal."
+
+"Right."
+
+"But you don't think there will be any danger in just going after our
+guide, do you?"
+
+"Boy, they'll be letting blood before morning, even if the Government
+doesn't drop down on the picnic and clean out the whole bunch of them.
+There is sure to be trouble before morning."
+
+"Thank you," said Tad, touching his pony;
+
+"Going on?" questioned the horseman.
+
+"Yes; I'm going to fetch Juan," replied Tad, touching spurs to his
+pony and galloping away, followed by Stacy Brown.
+
+The horseman sat his saddle watching the receding forms of the two
+Pony Rider Boys until they disappeared behind a butte in the
+foothills.
+
+"Well, if those kids ain't got the sand!" he muttered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A DARING ACT
+
+
+"If you don't want to go with me you may go back, Chunky. Perhaps one
+would not be as likely to get into trouble as two. You can find your
+way, can't you?"
+
+"I go back? Think I'm a tenderfoot? Huh! Guess I ain't afraid of any
+cheap Wild West Indians. I'm going with you, Tad."
+
+"Very well; but see to it that you keep in the background. You have a
+habit of getting into trouble on the slightest provocation."
+
+"So do you," retorted Stacy.
+
+The ponies had been urged to their best pace by this time. Twilight
+had fallen and darkness would settle over them in a very short time
+now, though a new moon hovered pale and weak in the blue sky above.
+Tad knew this, so he did not worry about the return trip.
+
+"We should be sighting the place pretty soon," he muttered.
+
+"I see a light," announced Stacy.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"To the right. Over that low butte there."
+
+"Yes; that's so. I see it now. You have sharp eyes," laughed Tad.
+
+"I can see when there's anything to see."
+
+"And eat when there's food to be had," added Tad.
+
+"Think those are the Indians that wanted to shoot us, Tad?" he asked,
+with a trace of apprehension in his voice.
+
+Tad glanced at his companion keenly;
+
+"Getting cold feet, Chunky?"
+
+"No!" roared the fat boy.
+
+"I beg your pardon," grinned Tad. "I didn't mean to insult you."
+
+"Better not. Look out that you don't get chilblains on your own feet.
+May need a hot mustard bath yourself before you get through."
+
+They rounded the butte. A full quarter of a mile ahead of them
+flickered a large fire, with several smaller blazes twinkling here and
+there about it. Shadowy figures were observed moving back and forth,
+some with rapid movements, others in slow, methodical steps.
+
+"There must be a lot of them, Tad."
+
+"Looks that way. I wonder where we shall find the guide."
+
+Both boys fell silent for a time, and as they drew nearer to the scene
+pulled their ponies down to a walk. Tad concluded to make a detour
+half way round the camp in order to get a clump of bushes that he had
+observed between them and the redskins. From that point of vantage he
+would be able to get a closer view, and perhaps locate the man for
+whom he was looking.
+
+Riding in, they were soon swallowed up in the shadows.
+
+"Hold my pony a moment," directed Tad, slipping to the ground.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Nowhere, just this minute. I'm going to look around."
+
+The lad peered through the bushes until, uttering a low exclamation,
+he turned to his companion.
+
+"I see him. He's over on the other side--"
+
+"Who? Juan?"
+
+"Yes. Now I want you to remain right here. Don't move away. I'll tie
+my pony so he won't give you any trouble. Sit perfectly quiet, and if
+any Indians come along don't bother them. I'm going around the
+outside, so I don't have to pass through the crowd, though they seem
+too busy to notice anyone."
+
+Tad slipped away in the shadows until he came to a spot opposite where
+he had caught a glimpse of the lazy Mexican.
+
+He discovered Juan in the center of a circle of dusky Indians who were
+squatting on the ground. Some of the braves were clothed in
+nondescript garments, while others were attired in gaudy blankets.
+These were the gamblers.
+
+At that moment their efforts were concentrated on winning from Juan
+the wages of his first week's work with the Pony Rider Boys. A blanket
+had been spread over the ground, and on this they were wagering small
+amounts on the throw of the dice, a flickering camp-fire near by dimly
+lighting up the blanket and making the reading of the dice a difficult
+matter for any but the keenest of eyes. The sing-song calls of the
+players added to the weirdness of the scene.
+
+Tad waited long enough to observe that the guide lost nearly every
+time, the stolid-faced red men raking in his coins with painful
+regularity.
+
+"It's a wonder he has a cent left. But they're not playing for very
+large amounts, as near as I can tell."
+
+Each time the Mexican lost he would utter a shrill "si, si," then
+lured by the hope that Dame Fortune would favor him, reached greedily
+for the next throw.
+
+"It's time for me to do something," muttered Tad.
+
+Stepping boldly from his cover, he walked up to the edge of the
+circle.
+
+"Juan!" he called sharply.
+
+"Si," answered the Mexican, without looking up.
+
+"Juan!"
+
+This time the word was uttered in a more commanding voice.
+
+"You come with me!"
+
+The guide, oblivious to all beyond the terrible fascination of the
+game he was playing, gave no heed to Tad Butler's stern command. Three
+times did Tad call to him, but without result. One of the red men cast
+an angry glance in the Tad's direction, and then returned to his play.
+
+Without an instant's hesitation, Tad sprang over into the center of
+the circle, and grasping Juan by an ear, jerked him to his feet.
+
+Red hands fell to belts and dark faces scowled menacingly at the
+intruder.
+
+"You come with me, Juan!"
+
+Juan sought to jerk away, but under the strong pull on his ear, he did
+not find it advisable to force himself from his captor's grip.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You're lucky if Professor
+Zepplin doesn't give you another dose of hot drops for this. I suppose
+these Indians sat down to rob you," growled Tad.
+
+"No, no, no," protested Juan.
+
+By this time the Indian gamblers had leaped to their feet, an ugly
+light in their eyes that boded ill for the Pony Rider Boy who had
+interrupted them in the process of fleecing the Mexican.
+
+With one accord they barred the way in a solid human wall. Tad found
+himself hemmed in on all sides. It had been easy to gain an entrance
+to the circle, but getting out of it was another matter.
+
+"This man belongs to me," he said with as much courage in his tone as
+he was able to command. "You will please step aside and let us go.
+You're breaking the law. If you offer any resistance I'll have the
+government officers after you in short order."
+
+He could not have said a worse thing under the circumstances. At first
+they took him for a spy, possibly a Government spy. Now they were sure
+of it, for had not the lad told them so himself?
+
+With a growl, one who appeared to be the most important personage in
+the group drew his sheath knife and sprang straight at the slender
+figure of Tad Butler.
+
+Tad acted without an instant's hesitation.
+
+Stepping aside quickly; he cleverly avoided the knife-thrust. At the
+same instant, while the Indian was off his balance, not yet having
+recovered from the lunge, the Pony Rider Boy's fist and the Indian's
+jaw met in sudden collision.
+
+The impact of the blow might have been heard more than a rod away.
+
+The red man's blanket dropped from his shoulders; he staggered
+backward, made a supreme effort to pull himself together, then dropped
+in a heap at the feet of the boy who had felled him.
+
+Without waiting for the astonished red gamblers to recover their wits,
+Tad grasped an arm of the Mexican and sprang away into the bushes.
+
+He had done a serious thing, even though in self-protection. He had
+knocked down an Apache brave with his fist. The sting of that blow
+would rest upon the savage jaw until the insult was wiped out by the
+victim himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE FIRE DANCE OF THE RED MEN
+
+
+The Indians made a sudden move to pursue the lad who had done so
+daring a thing. One of their number restrained them, pointing to the
+fallen brave, as much as to say, "Revenge is for him!"
+
+With a shrug of their shoulders the Indians sank down and resumed
+their game as stoically as before. They gave no further heed to the
+unconscious Apache, who still lay just outside the circle where he had
+been knocked out by Tad's blow.
+
+"Hurry! Hurry!" commanded the lad, fairly dragging his companion
+along. "They'll be after us in a minute."
+
+Yet before the minute had elapsed Tad had halted suddenly, his
+wondering eyes fixed upon the scene that was being enacted before him.
+
+About a pit of red hot coals, naked save for the breech clouts they
+wore, swayed the bodies of half-a-dozen powerful braves.
+
+They were the fire dancers and Tad was gazing upon a scene that
+probably never will be seen again in this country--the last of the
+fire dances--a secret dance of which it was to be supposed the
+Government agents knew nothing.
+
+Back and forth waved the copper-colored line, right up to the edge of
+the pit of glowing coals, uttering a weird chant, which was taken up
+by others who were not in the dance.
+
+The voices of the chanters grew louder, their excitement waxed higher,
+as the thrill of song and dance pulsed through their veins.
+
+All at once, Tad was horrified to see one of the dancers leap into the
+air, uttering a mighty shriek. While still clear of the ground the
+dancer's body turned, then he dove head first into the bed of hot
+coals. He was out in an instant.
+
+The chant rose higher as the remaining dancers followed the leader
+into the burning pit and out of it. So quickly did they move that they
+seemed not to feel the heat, and from Tad's point of vantage, he was
+sure that none was burned in the slightest.
+
+Juan tried to pull away. But Tad held him in a firm grip.
+
+Now that the dancers had passed through the fire unscathed, others
+followed them, some no more than touching the live coals, then
+bounding out on the other side of the pit; others remaining long
+enough to roll swiftly across the glowing bed.
+
+Excitement was rapidly waxing higher and higher. The red men were in a
+dangerous mood. It boded ill for the paleface who sought to interfere
+with their carnival at this moment.
+
+"Come!" whispered Tad in a low, tense voice. "We've got to get out of
+this mighty quick! Chunky's probably half scared to death, too."
+
+Tad did not go far. He had scarcely taken half a dozen steps when a
+frenzied yell, a series of shrill shrieks sounded in the air. The
+sounds seemed to come from all directions at once.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Me not know."
+
+"Somebody's running a pony. I hear it coming. It's headed right for
+that bunch of crazy savages. Probably an Indian gone mad."
+
+It was not an Indian who was the cause of this new disturbance, as the
+lad discovered almost immediately afterward.
+
+"Yip, yip! Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!"
+
+The yells were uttered in the shrill voice of Stacy Brown.
+
+"It's Chunky!" groaned Tad. "Here's trouble in earnest!"
+
+They never knew just how it happened, and Chunky could not tell them,
+but in all probability the excitement had been too much for the fat
+boy!
+
+He had moved closer when the dancing began, and the fever of it got
+into his veins until his excitement had reached a pitch beyond his
+control.
+
+With a series of howls and yells, the fat boy drove the rowels of the
+spurs deep into his pony's aides.
+
+The animal dashed forward at a break-neck pace.
+
+Stacy headed straight for the glowing pit, yelling with every leap of
+the pony.
+
+Tad gazed spellbound. He seemed powerless to move. He had been deeply
+affected by the scenes he had seen; but this was different. The lad
+held his breath.
+
+Reaching the edge of the pit, Stacy's pony rose in the air, clearing
+the bed of coals in a long, curving leap.
+
+Two red men had just risen from their fiery bath. The hind hoofs of
+the pony caught and bowled them over.
+
+"Run to the camp and get help! Take my pony! Ride for your life! Don't
+lose a second!" gasped Tad, giving the lazy Mexican a shove that sent
+him stumbling until he had measured his length upon the ground.
+
+Juan picked himself up slowly; and, crawling away into the bushes, lay
+down to rest or hide.
+
+Stacy's pony landed fairly in the center of a bunch of half-clothed
+savages; some of whom went down under the pony when it landed on them
+so unexpectedly.
+
+The next instant the fat boy had been jerked from the animal's back,
+to which he was clinging desperately.
+
+With a yell the redskins hurled him toward the fire. But the force of
+the throw had not been quite strong enough. Stacy landed on the edge
+of the pit, rolling half into it, the upper part of his body being on
+the ground to which he was hanging, yelling lustily. His shod feet
+were in the fire, however, but as yet he did not realize that his
+clothes were burning.
+
+Tad Butler sprang quickly from his hiding place.
+
+"Crawl out!" he roared. "You'll be burned alive!"
+
+"I--I can't. I fell in," piped Stacy, all his bravery gone now.
+
+Tad leaped across the intervening space and bounded to the side of his
+companion.
+
+"Ouch! I'm on fire!" shrieked Stacy.
+
+Tad grabbed and hauled him from his dangerous position. One of Tad's
+feet slipped in while he was doing so. By this time the clothes of
+both lads had begun to smoulder.
+
+"Run for it! Better be burned than scalped!" shouted Tad.
+
+Holding to Chunky's arm the Pony Rider Boy started to run. He was
+tripped by a moccasined foot before they had gone ten feet. Both boys
+fell headlong. Ere they could rise half a dozen mad savages were upon
+them.
+
+The lads were jerked roughly to their feet, Chunky shivering, Tad pale
+but resolute. There was nothing that he could say or do to repair the
+damage that his companion had done.
+
+One whom the lad took to be a chief, from his head-dress and
+commanding appearance, pushed his way into the crowd about the two
+boys, hurling the red men aside with reckless sweeps of his powerful
+arms.
+
+"Ugh!" he grunted, folding his arms and gazing sternly at the two
+prisoners.
+
+"Who you?"
+
+Tad explained as best he could.
+
+"Why you do this?"
+
+"My friend here got excited," Tad declared.
+
+"Huh! Lie!"
+
+Tad's face burned. He could scarcely resist the impulse to resent the
+imputation that the savage had cast upon him. He conquered the
+inclination with an effort.
+
+"Sir, we had no wish to interfere with you. We came here to get one of
+our men who had come here to gamble. If you will release us we will
+return to our camp and give you no further trouble. I promise you
+that."
+
+"T-h-h-h-at's so," chattered Chunky.
+
+"Keep still," whispered Tad. "You'll get us into more trouble."
+
+The chief appeared to be debating the question in his own mind, when
+one of the men, whom Tad recognized as a member of the gambling
+circle, whispered something to the chief.
+
+The chief's eyes blazed. Uttering a succession of gutteral sounds, he
+gave some quick directions to the red men near him.
+
+"He makes a noise like a litter of pigs," muttered Chunky.
+
+Acting upon the chief's direction two braves grabbed the lads, and
+hurried them away, Tad meanwhile watching for an opportunity to break
+away. Had he been alone, he felt sure he could do so safely. But he
+would not leave his companion, of course.
+
+The Apaches took the boys a short distance from the camp, planked them
+down roughly with their backs to a rock.
+
+"Now, I wonder what next?" muttered Tad.
+
+While one of the braves stood guard over them, the second trotted back
+to the camp, returning after a few minutes with a third savage who
+carried a rifle.
+
+The boys were sure then that they were to be shot.
+
+"Huh! You run, brave shoot um!" warned one of the first pair, after
+which parting injunction the two captors strode away, leaving their
+companion to guard the boys.
+
+For a few moments the Indian walked up and down in front of them,
+keeping his eyes fixed on the lads. Tad noted that he walked rather
+unsteadily. Finally, the guard sat down facing them, some ten feet
+away.
+
+"Well, you've certainly gone and done it this time, Chunky," said Tad
+in a low voice. "What on earth made you do a crazy thing like that?"
+
+"I--I don't know."
+
+"Well, it's too late for regrets. All we can do will be to make the
+best of our situation and watch for an opportunity to get away."
+
+For several minutes the boys sat gazing at the stolid figure before
+them. Tad's mind was working, though his body was not.
+
+"Make believe you're going to sleep, but don't overdo it," whispered
+Tad.
+
+This was something that Stacy could do, and he did it with such
+naturalness that Tad could not repress a smile.
+
+"That Indian is dazed from his excitement, and if we make him think
+we're asleep he's likely to relax his vigilance," mused Tad, as the
+two boys gradually leaned closer together, soon to all appearances
+being wrapped in sleep. Little by little the Indian's head nodded.
+
+Finally he toppled over to one side, the rifle lying across his feet.
+
+Tad and Chunky remained motionless.
+
+The Indian snored.
+
+The boys waited. Soon the snores became regular. The moment for action
+had arrived.
+
+Tad pinched Chunky.
+
+"Huh! Wat'cher want?"
+
+The fat boy had in reality been asleep.
+
+"For goodness sake, keep quiet!" begged Tad in a whisper. "Don't you
+know there's an Indian with a gun guarding us? He's asleep. Come, but
+be quiet if you value your life at all. Anyway; remember that I want
+to save mine."
+
+Stacy was wide awake now. Together the lads crawled cautiously away,
+every nerve on the alert. Over by the pit of live coals the uproar
+was, if any thing, louder than before.
+
+The boys gave that part of the camp a wide berth.
+
+"Now get up and run!" commanded Tad. "Raise your feet off the ground,
+so that you won't fall over every pebble you come to."
+
+Tad and Chunky clasped hands and scurried through the bushes, making
+as little noise as possible, and rapidly putting considerable distance
+between them and the sleeping red man who had been set to watch them.
+
+"Having lots of fun, ain't we, Tad?"
+
+"Fun! You're lucky if you get off with a whole scalp--"
+
+"Wow!" exclaimed Stacy.
+
+The lads brought up suddenly.
+
+At first they were not sure what had disturbed them, that is, Tad was
+not. This time Stacy had seen more clearly than his companion.
+
+"Ugh!" grunted a voice right in front of them, and there before their
+amazed eyes stood an Indian. To their imaginations, he was magnified
+until he appeared nearly as tall as the moonlit mountains in the
+background.
+
+For one hesitating instant the lads stood staring at the figure
+looming over them.
+
+With an angry growl the red man bounded toward them. He had recognized
+the boys and was determined that they should not escape him.
+
+It was Stacy Brown's wits that saved the situation this time. As the
+Indian came at them the fat boy dived between the savage's naked legs,
+uttering a short, sharp yelp, for all the world just like that of a
+small dog attempting to frighten off a bigger antagonist.
+
+There could be only one result following Chunky's unexpected tactics.
+Mr. Redskin flattened himself on the ground prone upon his face.
+Somehow the fellow was slightly stunned by the fall, not having had
+time to save himself from a violent bump on the head.
+
+"Run for it, Chunky! He'll be after us in a second."
+
+The lads made a lively sprint for the open. In a moment, observing
+that they were not being followed, they halted, still in the shadows
+of the bushes. All at once Tad stumbled over an object in the dark. At
+first he thought it was another Indian, and both boys were about to
+run again, when the voice of the prostrate man caused them to laugh
+instead.
+
+"Si, si, seņor," muttered the fellow.
+
+"Juan? It's Juan! Get up! You here yet?"
+
+They pulled the lazy guide to his feet, starting off with him, when
+all at once Tad happened to think that one of the ponies was back
+there somewhere among the Indians.
+
+"You stay here, and don't make a fool of yourself this time!"
+commanded Tad.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"After your pony. You hang on to Juan. I'll hold you responsible for
+him, Chunky."
+
+"Guess I can take care of a lazy Mexican if I can floor a redskin,"
+answered Stacy proudly.
+
+But Tad was off. He had not heard the last remark of his companion. In
+picking his way carefully around the camp to where he had seen a lot
+of ponies tethered, Tad found a Navajo blanket. He quickly possessed
+himself of it, throwing it over his head, wrapping himself in its
+folds.
+
+He was now in plain sight of the wild antics of the dancers, who,
+still mad with the excitement of the hour, were performing all manner
+of weird movements. For a moment, the lad squatted down to watch them.
+He had been there but a short time when a voice at his side startled
+him, and Tad was about to take a fresh sprint when he realized that it
+was not the voice of a savage.
+
+"Young man, you'd better light out of here while you've got the
+chance," said the stranger.
+
+Turning sharply, Tad discovered a man, who, like himself, was wrapped
+in a gaudy blanket. He was unable to see the man's face, which was
+hidden under the Navajo.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded the lad sharply.
+
+"I'm an Indian agent. I only got wind of this proposed fire dance late
+this afternoon. These men will all be punished unless they return to
+their reservations peaceably. If they do, they will be let go with a
+warning."
+
+"Do they know you're here?"
+
+"They? Not much," laughed the agent.
+
+"But supposing they ask you a question?"
+
+"I can talk all the different tribal languages represented here. You'd
+better go now. Where are you from?"
+
+Tad explained briefly.
+
+"Well, you have had a narrow escape tonight. If they catch you again
+they'll make short work of you."
+
+"They won't catch me. Thank you and good-bye."
+
+"Don't go that way. Strike straight back; then you will have an open
+course."
+
+"I'm going after my companion's pony. I think I know where to find
+it," answered Tad, wrapping the blanket about himself and stealing
+across an open moonlit space without attracting attention.
+
+The Indian agent watched him curiously for a moment; then he rose and
+followed quickly after Tad.
+
+"That boy is either a fool--which I don't think--or else he doesn't
+know the meaning of the word 'fear.'"
+
+Tad did not find Stacy's pony where he had expected. Indian ponies
+were tethered all about, singly and in groups, while here and there
+one was left to graze where it would.
+
+"What sort of a looking pony is yours?" questioned the agent, coming
+up to him.
+
+"A roan."
+
+"Then I think I know where he is. He was not like the horses in this
+vicinity, which attracted my attention to him."
+
+The agent led the way, in a roundabout course, to the south side of
+the camp, where they began looking over the animals. Occasionally a
+redskin would pass them, but no one gave either the slightest heed.
+
+"Here he is," whispered Tad.
+
+"Lead him off. Don't mount just yet."
+
+Tad did as the agent had suggested. But all at once something
+happened. Tad's blanket had dropped from his shoulders, revealing him
+in his true colors. An Indian uttered a yell. Tad sprang into his
+saddle and put spurs to the pony. In a moment more than a dozen
+redskins had mounted and started yelling after him, believing he was
+stealing a pony.
+
+Tad headed away to the south to give his companions a chance to get
+out of the way, and the savages came in full cry after him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FLEEING FROM THE ENEMY
+
+
+A shrill cry was wafted to the boy.
+
+After a few moments Tad realized that they were no longer on his
+trail. He knew the cry had been a signal, warning them to halt. What
+he did not know, however, was that the Indian agent had been
+responsible for the signal; that he in all probability had saved the
+boy's life.
+
+The lad, after satisfying himself that the Indians had abandoned the
+chase, at once circled about, coming back to the point where he had
+left Chunky and the Mexican. They were both there waiting for him.
+
+"What was all that row?" demanded the fat boy. "We were having a
+little horse race, that's all," grinned Tad grimly; "Hurry along,
+now."
+
+They reached their own camp in safety an hour later. The two boys had
+much to relate, and as the narration proceeded, Professor Zepplin
+shook his head disapprovingly.
+
+"Young gentlemen, much as I have enjoyed this summer's outing, it's a
+wonder I haven't had nervous prostration long before this. It'll be a
+load off my mind if I get you all back in Chillicothe without anything
+serious happening to you."
+
+"I think," suggested Tad, "that we had better strike camp at once and
+move on. The moon is shining brightly, and Juan ought to have no
+trouble in leading the way."
+
+"Yes; that will be an excellent idea. You think they may give as
+further trouble?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"They may before morning. They're getting more ugly every minute."
+
+"Everything worth while seems to happen when I am not around,"
+protested Ned.
+
+"Good thing you weren't along," replied Stacy. "You'd been scared
+stiff. It was no place for tenderfeet."
+
+"You--you call me a tenderfoot?" snapped Ned, starting for him.
+
+"Stop quarreling, you two!" commanded Tad. "We've had all the fighting
+we want for one night. Get busy and help strike this camp. Guess none
+of this outfit could truthfully be called a tenderfoot. We've all had
+our share of hard knocks, and we'll have enough to look back to and
+think about when we get home and have time to go over our experiences
+together this winter."
+
+The thought, that at any minute the half-crazed savages might sweep
+down on them hastened the preparations for departure. The Pony Rider
+Boys never struck camp more quickly than they did in the soft southern
+moonlight that night.
+
+All at once Juan set up a wail.
+
+"What is it--what's the trouble now?" demanded Tad.
+
+"My burro. I go for him."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort. You'll walk, or ride a pack animal,"
+answered Stacy. "You don't deserve to have a burro."
+
+"Here's his old burro now," called Walter, as a shambling object, much
+the worse for wear, came stumbling sleepily into camp.
+
+The boys set up a shout that was quickly checked by Tad.
+
+"If the burro can find the way what do you think an Indian could do,
+fellows?"
+
+"That's right," agreed Professor Zepplin. "We had better keep quiet--"
+
+"And hit the trail as fast as possible," added Tad. "Daylight must
+find us a long ways from here."
+
+"And ride all night--is that what you mean?" complained Stacy.
+
+"Yes; it'll give you an appetite for breakfast."
+
+"I've got one already."
+
+"That goes without saying," agreed Ned.
+
+"Come, come, Juan!" urged Tad, observing that the guide was doing
+nothing more in the way of work than rubbing the nose of his prodigal
+burro. "Aren't you going to help us?"
+
+"Yes; what do you think we're paying you good American dollars for?"
+demanded Ned.
+
+"I think some of the Professor's hot drops would be good for what ails
+him," observed Stacy Brown. "I'll get the Professor to give him a dose
+right now."
+
+"No, no, no! Juan no want fire drops."
+
+"All right; get busy, then."
+
+He did. Not since the last dose of the Professor's medicine had he
+shown such activity. Very soon after that the camp had been struck and
+the party was ready to take up its journey.
+
+Tad took a last look about, to make sure that nothing had been left.
+
+"I think I'll put out the fire," he said, tossing the bridle reins to
+Stacy, while he ran over to the dying camp-fire, whose embers he
+kicked apart, stamping them out one by one. "No use leaving a trail
+like that for any prowling redskin."
+
+They were quickly under way after that, Juan leading the way without
+the least hesitancy. He and the burro worked together like a piece of
+automatic machinery.
+
+"He might better walk and lead the burro," said Stacy, who had been
+observing their peculiar method of locomotion. "Should think it would
+be easier."
+
+The moon was dropping slowly westward, and the party was using it for
+a guide, keeping the silver ball sharply to their right. Juan on the
+other hand had hitched his lazy chariot to a star.
+
+By this star he was laying his course to the southward. The Pony Rider
+Boys enjoyed their moonlight trip immensely; and a gentle breeze from
+the desert drifting over them relieved the scorching heat of the late
+afternoon and early evening.
+
+"Guess the Indians are not going to bother us," said Walter, riding up
+to Tad just before daylight.
+
+"Probably not. They will be in too much trouble with the Government,
+after last night's performances, to give much thought to chasing us.
+And besides, I don't see why they should wish to do so. Had they been
+very anxious to be revenged on us, most likely they would not have
+allowed us to get away as they did."
+
+"Was it very terrible, Tad?" asked Walter Perkins.
+
+"What, the dance, or what happened afterwards?" laughed the lad.
+
+"Both?"
+
+"Well, I'm free to confess that neither was exactly pleasant. When
+they caught Chunky I thought it was all up with us. Hello. There's Mr.
+Daylight."
+
+Glancing to the left the boys saw the sky turning to gray. A buzzard
+screamed overhead, laying its course for the mountains where it was
+journeying in search of food.
+
+"What's that?" demanded Stacy, awakening from a doze in his saddle.
+
+"Friend of yours with an appetite," grinned Ned.
+
+"I thought it sounded like breakfast call," muttered Stacy, relapsing
+into sleep again, his head drooping forward until, a few minutes
+later, he was lying over the saddle pommel with arms thrown loosely
+about the pony's neck.
+
+Ned, observing the lad's position, suddenly conceived a mischievous
+plan. Unnoticed by the others, he permitted his own pony to fall back
+until he was a short distance behind Stacy. The others were a little
+way ahead.
+
+Ned rode slowly alongside his companion, as he passed, bringing the
+rowel of his spur sharply against the withers of Chunky's mount.
+
+The effect was instantaneous.
+
+The fat boy's mount, itself half asleep, suddenly humped its back, and
+with bunching feet leaped clear of the ground.
+
+"Hello, what's the matter back there?" called Ned, who by this time
+was a full rod in advance of his companion.
+
+Stacy did not answer. He was at that moment turning an undignified
+somersault in the air, his pony standing meekly, awaiting the next act
+in the little drama.
+
+The fat boy landed on the plain in a heap.
+
+"Are you hurt, Chunky?" cried Tad anxiously, slipping from his saddle
+and running to his companion.
+
+"I--I dunno, I--I fell off, didn't I?"
+
+"You're off, at least," grinned Ned. "What was the matter?"
+
+"I--I dunno; do you?"
+
+"How should I know? If you will go to sleep an a bucking broncho, you
+must expect things to happen."
+
+Stacy, by this time, had scrambled to his feet; after which, he began
+a careful inventory of himself to make sure that he was all there. He
+grinned sheepishly.
+
+Satisfying himself on this point, Stacy shrugged his shoulders and
+walked over to his pony with a suggestion of a limp.
+
+"Now that we have halted we might as well make camp for a few hours,
+get breakfast and take a nap," suggested the Professor.
+
+The boys welcomed this proposition gratefully, for they were beginning
+to feel the effects of their long night ride, added to which, two of
+them had had a series of trying experiences before starting out.
+
+In the meantime, Stacy Brown had been examining his pony with more
+than usual care.
+
+Tad observed his action, and wondered at it. A moment later, the fat
+boy having moved away; Tad thought he would take a look at the animal.
+He was curious to know what Stacy had in mind.
+
+"So that's it, is it?" muttered Tad.
+
+He found the mark of a spur on the pony's withers. While it had not
+punctured the skin, the spur had raked the coat, showing that the
+rowel had been applied with considerable force.
+
+Tad, with a covert glance about, saw Ned Rector watching him.
+
+"You're the guilty one, eh?" he demanded, walking up to Ned.
+
+"S-h-h-h," cautioned Ned. "He'll be redheaded if he knows I am to
+blame for his coming a cropper."
+
+"Chunky's not so slow as you might think. But that wasn't a nice thing
+to do. It's all right to play tricks, but I hope you won't be so cruel
+as to use a spur on a dumb animal, the way you did, even if he is an
+ill-tempered broncho. You might have broken Chunky's neck, too."
+
+Ned's face flushed.
+
+"It was a mean trick, I'll admit. Didn't strike me so at the time.
+Shall I ask Chunky's pardon?"
+
+"Do as you think best. I should, were I in your place."
+
+"Then, I will after breakfast."
+
+Ned got busy at once, assisting to cook the morning meal, while Juan
+led the ponies out to a patch of grass and staked them down. While the
+Pony Rider cook was thus engaged, he felt a tug at his coat sleeve.
+
+Turning sharply, Ned found Stacy at his side. Stacy's face was flushed
+and his eyes were snapping.
+
+"What is it, Chunky?"
+
+"Come over here, I want to talk with you."
+
+They stepped off a few paces out of hearing of the others, Tad smiling
+to himself as he observed Stacy's act.
+
+"Well, what's the matter, Chunky?"
+
+"I can lick you, Ned Rector!"
+
+"Wha--what?"
+
+"Said I could lick you. Didn't say I was going to, understand. Just
+said I could--"
+
+"Like to see you try it."
+
+"All right; it's a go."
+
+Ere Ned could recover from his surprise, Stacy Brown had launched
+himself upon his companion. One of Stacy's arms went about Ned's neck,
+one foot kicked a leg from under Ned, and the two lads went down in
+the dust together.
+
+It had happened in a twinkling.
+
+"Here, here! What's going on over there?" shouted the Professor,
+starting on a run, while the other lads were laughing.
+
+Chunky was sitting on the chest of his fallen adversary, Ned
+struggling desperately to throw the lad off.
+
+"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" crowed Chunky, in imitation of a rooster,
+flapping his hands on his thighs, in great good humor with himself.
+
+Professor Zepplin grabbed him by the collar, jerking Stacy Brown from
+the fallen Pony Rider Boy.
+
+Ned scrambled to his feet, and, with a sheepish grin on his face,
+proceeded to brush the dust from his clothes.
+
+"Downed you, did he?" questioned Tad.
+
+"It wasn't fair. I didn't know he was going to try."
+
+"Neither did the Russians when the Japs sailed into them at Port
+Arthur," laughed Walter. "And they got what was coming to them."
+
+"So did I. Chunky, I deserve more than you gave me. If you want to,
+beat me up some more."
+
+"Now, isn't that sweet of him?" chortled Stacy. "I fell off my pony,
+then I fell on you, and we'll call it quits, eh, Ned?"
+
+Ned put out a hand, which Stacy grasped with mock enthusiasm.
+
+"We sure will."
+
+"I'd like to know what this is all about?" questioned Walter.
+"Something's been going on."
+
+"I made his pony throw him over," admitted Ned.
+
+Stacy nodded with emphasis.
+
+"He found it out and jumped on me."
+
+"I'll turn you both over my knee if you try to repeat these
+performances," warned the Professor.
+
+Linking arms, Stacy and Ned started for the breakfast table, humming,
+
+"For he's a jolly good fellow,"
+
+and a moment later all four of the lads were standing about the
+breakfast table, singing the chorus at the top of their voices.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+ASLEEP ON THE SLEEPY GRASS
+
+
+The slanting rays of the sun got into the eyes of the Pony Rider Boys.
+Four arms were thrown over as many pairs of eyes to shut out the
+blinding light.
+
+"Ho-ho-hum!" yawned Chunky.
+
+Cocking an impish eye at his companions, he observed that each had
+fallen into a deep sleep again.
+
+The fat boy cautiously gathered up a handful of dry sand and hurled it
+into the air. A shower of it sprinkled over them, into their eyes and
+half-opened mouths.
+
+Three pairs of eyes were opened, then closed again.
+
+Encouraged by his success, Stacy chuckled softly to himself, then
+dumped another handful of sand over his companions.
+
+But he was not prepared for what followed.
+
+Three muscular boys hurled themselves upon him. Instantly the peaceful
+scene was changed into a pandemonium of yells. Down came the tent
+poles, the canvas rising and falling as if imbued with sudden life.
+
+Professor Zepplin, startled by the racket, roused himself and sprang
+from his own tent. Observing the erratic actions of the tent in which
+the boys had been sleeping, he instantly concluded that something
+serious had happened.
+
+"Boys! boys!" he cried, running to the spot, frantically hauling away
+the canvas. "What has happened? What has happened?"
+
+They were too busy to answer him. When finally he had uncovered what
+lay below, he found his charges literally tied up in a knot, rolling
+and tumbling, with Stacy Brown lying flat on his back, each of his
+three companions vigorously rubbing handfuls of sand over his face,
+down his neck and in the hair of his head.
+
+"I think I'll take a hand in this myself," smiled the Professor. He
+ran to his tent, returning quickly. In his hands he carried two pails
+of water.
+
+Unluckily for the boys, they had failed to observe what he was doing.
+Nor did they understand that they were in danger until the contents of
+the two pails had been dashed over them.
+
+There were yells in earnest this time. The water turned the dirt into
+mud at once, and their faces were "sights." Stacy's face had been
+protected, in a measure, by the other boys who were bending over him
+rubbing in the sand.
+
+The unexpected bath put a sudden end to their sport, and they
+staggered out shouting for vengeance. They did not even know who had
+been the cause of their undoing.
+
+The Professor, as he walked away smiling, had handed the pails to the
+grinning Juan with instructions to refill them.
+
+The unfortunate Juan, bearing the pails away, was the first person to
+catch the eyes of the lads, as they rubbed the sticky mud out of them.
+
+With a howl they projected themselves upon him. Juan's grin changed
+instantly to an expression of great concern. He went down under their
+charge, with four boys, instead of three, on top of him.
+
+"Duck him!" shouted some one.
+
+"Yes! Douse him in the spring!" chorused the boys.
+
+Juan cried out for the Professor, but his appeals were in vain.
+
+Shouting in high glee the lads bore him to the spring from which they
+got their water. They plumped him in, not any too gently, again and
+again.
+
+"Now roll him in the sand," suggested Ned.
+
+They did so.
+
+The wet clothing and body made the sand stick to him until the lazy
+Mexican was scarcely recognizable.
+
+At this point Professor Zepplin took a hand. He came bounding to the
+scene and began throwing the boys roughly from their unhappy victim.
+Perhaps he was not greatly disturbed over the shaking up the guide had
+sustained, but of course he confided nothing of this to the boys.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves--for four of you to pitch on
+to one weak Mexican! I'm surprised, young gentlemen."
+
+"But--but--he ducked us," protested Ned.
+
+"He did nothing of the sort."
+
+"What--didn't duck us? Guess I know water when I feel it," objected
+Walter.
+
+"You were ducked, all right, but it is I, not Juan, who am responsible
+for that."
+
+"You?" questioned the lads all at once.
+
+The Professor nodded, a broad grin on his face.
+
+"But he had the pails."
+
+"I gave them to him, after pouring the water over you. That's what is
+known as circumstantial evidence, young gentlemen. Let it be a lesson
+to you to be careful how you convict anyone on that kind of evidence."
+
+"Fellows," glowed Chunky, "we've made a mistake. Let's make it right
+by ducking the Professor."
+
+The boys looked over Professor Zepplin critically.
+
+"I guess we'd better defer that job till we grow some more," they
+decided, with a laugh.
+
+The next fifteen minutes were fully occupied in cleaning up and
+putting on their clothes. They were all thoroughly awake now, with
+cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling after their violent exercise. The
+guide had rather sullenly washed off the wet dust that clung to his
+face and hands.
+
+"Never mind the clothes, Juan," advised Ned. "It'll brush off as soon
+as it gets dry. We'll take up a contribution to buy you a clothes
+brush. Ever see one?"
+
+Juan grinned.
+
+"You promise not to gamble the money away if we give it to you?"
+
+"Si."
+
+"Shell out, fellows. Ten cents apiece. That ought to salve his injured
+feelings."
+
+Ned passed the hat, all contributing.
+
+"That makes forty cents. Here, Professor, you haven't put in your ten
+yet. It'll take just fifty cents to paste up Juan's injuries."
+
+"That reminds me of a fellow I heard about once," announced Stacy.
+
+"Are you going to tell a story?" questioned Ned.
+
+"If you will keep still long enough," replied Stacy.
+
+"Then me for the bunch grass. It's like going to a funeral to hear
+Chunky try to tell a story."
+
+"Let him tell it," shouted the lads.
+
+"Go on, Chunky. Never mind Ned. He'll laugh when he gets back to
+Chillicothe," jibed Walter.
+
+"I heard of a fellow once--"
+
+"Yes; you told us that before," jeered Ned.
+
+"Not the one we ducked in the spring, was it?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Who's telling this story?" demanded Stacy belligerently.
+
+"You are, I guess. I won't interrupt again."
+
+"Well, did I say this fellow was a boy?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, he was--he's grown up now. He rushed into a drug store--"
+
+"Was anything chasing him?" asked Ned innocently.
+
+Stacy gave no heed to the interruption.
+
+"And he said to the man in the store, 'Please, sir, some liniment and
+some cement?'"
+
+"'What?' asked the clerk all in a muddle. You see, he'd never had a
+prescription like that to fill before. It made him tired, 'cause he
+thought the kid was making fun of him."
+
+"'What--what's the trouble? What do you want liniment and cement
+for?'
+
+"'Cause,' said the boy to the pill man, ''cause mom hit pop on the
+head with a plate.'"
+
+For a moment there was silence, then the boys roared. But Ned never
+smiled.
+
+"Laugh, laugh! Why don't you laugh?" urged Walter.
+
+"Laugh? Huh! I laughed myself almost sick over that a long time ago.
+Read it in an almanac when I was in short trousers."
+
+"The ponies! The ponies!" cried Juan, rushing up to them, waving his
+arms, then running his fingers through his long black hair until it
+stood up like the quills of a porcupine.
+
+"What!" queried the Pony Rider Boys in sudden alarm. "What's the
+matter with the ponies?"
+
+Juan pointed to the place where the stock had been tethered after they
+arrived at the camp.
+
+There was not an animal to be seen anywhere on the plain.
+
+"Gone!" gasped the lads, with sinking hearts.
+
+"No, no, no. There!" stammered the guide.
+
+With one accord the boys ran at top speed to the spot indicated by
+Juan.
+
+There, stretched out in the long grass lay bronchos and burros.
+
+"They're dead, the ponies are dead, every one of them!" cried the lads
+aghast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE MIDNIGHT ALARM
+
+
+"What's this, what's this?" demanded the Professor, striding up.
+
+"Look! Look! The ponies are dead!" exclaimed Ned excitedly.
+
+"What do you suppose could have happened to them?" stammered Walter.
+
+"Is it possible? What's the meaning of this, guide?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his white teeth.
+
+In the meantime Tad had hurried to his own pony, and was down on his
+knees examining it. Placing his hands on the animal's side, he
+remained in that position for an instant, then sprang up.
+
+"They're not dead, fellows! They're alive!"
+
+"Asleep," grumbled Ned disgustedly.
+
+"But there's something the matter with them. Something has happened to
+the stock," added Tad.
+
+"Only a false alarm," nodded Stacy.
+
+"Think so? Try to wake your pony up," advised Tad.
+
+Stacy had already hurried to his own broncho, and now began tugging at
+the bridle rein, with sundry pokes in the animal's ribs.
+
+"I can't. He's in a trance," wailed Stacy, considerably startled.
+
+That expression came nearer to describing the condition of the stock
+than any other words could have done.
+
+"Guide, what do you know about this?" questioned the Professor. "Has
+some one been tampering with our animals?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders with an air of indifference.
+
+"No bother bronchs."
+
+"Then will you please tell us what is the matter with them?"
+
+"Sleepy grass!"
+
+"Sleepy grass?" chorused the lads.
+
+"Of course they're asleep all right," added Ned. "But whoever heard of
+sleepy grass?"
+
+"He means they're sleeping on the grass," Stacy informed them.
+
+"Ah! I begin to understand," nodded the Professor. "I think I know
+what the trouble is now. The guide is no doubt right."
+
+The boys gathered around him, all curiosity.
+
+"Tell us about it, Professor. We are very much mystified?" said the
+Pony Riders.
+
+"A long time ago I remember to have read, somewhere, of a certain
+grass in this region that possessed peculiar narcotic properties--"
+
+"What's narcotic?" interrupted Stacy.
+
+"Something that makes you go to sleep when you can't," explained Tad
+Butler, rather ambiguously.
+
+"When eaten by horses or cattle it is said to put them into deep
+sleep. The Rockefeller Institute, I believe, is already making an
+analytical test of the grass."
+
+"Please talk so I can understand it," begged Stacy.
+
+"Yes; those words make my head ache," scowled Ned. "Even the guide is
+making up faces in his effort to understand."
+
+"He does understand. He understands only too well. For many years this
+grass has been known. Cows turned out for the day would fail to return
+at night--"
+
+"To be milked," interjected Stacy.
+
+"And an investigation would disclose them sleeping in some region,
+where the sleepy grass grew
+
+And the fat boy hummed:
+
+"Down where the sleepy grass is growing."
+
+"Travelers who have tied out their horses in patches of the grass for
+the night have been unable to continue their journey until the animals
+recovered from their strange sleep. Thus the properties of the grass
+became known."
+
+"Indians use 'em to tame bad bronchos," the guide informed them.
+
+"Just so."
+
+"But, when will they wake up?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Mebby sun-up to-morrow," answered Juan, glancing up at the sky.
+
+"What, sleep twenty-four hours?" demanded Ned.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Preposterous."
+
+"Then, then, we've got to remain here all the rest of the afternoon
+and night--is that it?" demanded Tad.
+
+"It looks that way."
+
+"And you knew about this stuff, Juan?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Well, you're a nice sort of a guide, I must say."
+
+"You ought to be put off the reservation," threatened Stacy, shaking a
+menacing fist in front of the white teeth.
+
+In the meantime, Tad had gone over to the animals again, and, taking
+them in turn, sought to stir them up. He found he could not do so. The
+ponies' heads would drop to the ground after he had lifted and let go
+of them, just as if the animals were dead.
+
+"Gives you a creepy feeling, doesn't it?" shivered Walter.
+
+"I should say it does," answered Ned.
+
+"Well, what is it, Chunky?" asked Tad, who observed that Stacy had
+something on his mind that he was trying to formulate into words.
+
+"I've got an idea, fellows," he exploded.
+
+"Hold on to it, then. You may never get another," jeered Ned.
+
+"What is it, Master Stacy?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Then--then--then--that's what Juan and his burro have been eating
+all the time. I knew there was something the matter with them."
+
+A loud laugh greeted the fat boy's suggestion.
+
+"Guess he's about right, at that," grinned Tad.
+
+"A brilliant thought," agreed the Professor. "Boys, I must have some
+of that grass. I shall make some experiments with it."
+
+"Experiment on Chunky," they shouted.
+
+"No; he sleeps quite well enough as it is," smiled the Professor.
+
+"I want some of it too--no, not to eat," corrected the fat boy. "I'll
+feed it to my aunt's cat when I get back; then he won't be running
+away from home every night."
+
+"Better unload the rest of the equipment, boys," advised the
+Professor. "If we must remain here all night we might as well make the
+best of it."
+
+Without their ponies, the lads spent rather a restless afternoon. They
+had not fully realized before how much a part of them their horses had
+become until they were suddenly deprived of them.
+
+In the meantime, the bronchos slept on undisturbed.
+
+"I've got another idea," shouted Stacy.
+
+"Keep it to yourself," growled Ned. "Your ideas, like your jokes,
+graduated a long time ago."
+
+"Is there sleepy grass in the Catskill Mountains!" persisted Stacy.
+
+"We don't know, and we don't--"
+
+"I know there is, and that's what put Rip Van Winkle to sleep for
+twenty years," shouted the fat boy in high glee. "See, I know more
+than--"
+
+"Yes; you're the original boy wonder. We'll take that for granted,"
+nodded Ned Rector.
+
+Tad, however, was not inclined to look upon their enforced delay with
+anything like amusement. To him it had its serious side. He had not
+forgotten that they had been fleeing from the Indians. When he got an
+opportunity to do so, without his companions overhearing, he
+approached the Professor.
+
+"I think it would be a good plan for us to have a guard over our camp
+to-night."
+
+"On account of?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Very well; I think myself that it would be a prudent move. Have Juan
+sit up, then."
+
+"No, he's a sleepy bead. Suppose we boys take turns?"
+
+"Very well; arrange it to suit yourselves. I presume we ought to do
+something of the sort every night. It might have saved us some trouble
+on our Ozark journey had we been that prudent. Arrange it to suit you.
+I'll take my turn."
+
+"No; we can do it, Professor. You go to bed as usual. We'll draw lots
+to see who takes the different watches. With the four of us we'll have
+to take only two hours apiece. That won't be bad at all."
+
+The other boys, after the plan had been explained to them, entered
+into it enthusiastically. Walter was to take the first trick, Ned the
+next, Chunky the third and Tad the fourth.
+
+And they were to take their guns out with them. The Professor agreed
+to this, now that they had become more familiar with firearms. As a
+matter of fact, all the boys had developed into excellent marksmen,
+though Tad was recognized as the best shot of the party.
+
+Professor Zepplin, during the afternoon, gave each of them a lesson in
+revolver shooting, using for the purpose, his heavy army revolver.
+They did pretty well with this weapon, but, of course, were not nearly
+as expert with it as with the rifle.
+
+Evening came and the stock was still sleeping soundly. There was
+nothing the boys could do but let them sleep, though the fact of all
+the ponies and burros lying about as if dead began to make the Pony
+Riders nervous. Night came, and with it semi-darkness, the moon being
+overcast with a veil of fleecy white clouds, which cast a grayish film
+over the landscape. The lads joked each other about having the
+"creeps," but none would admit the charge.
+
+Walter, with rifle slung over his right shoulder, went out on the
+first watch with instructions to go at least two hundred yards from
+camp and keep walking around the camp in a circle. This would protect
+them from surprises on all sides. Ned decided not to retire until he
+had taken his guard trick, in view of the fact that he was to go on at
+eleven o'clock. But Stacy, proposing to get all the sleep he was
+entitled to, turned in early. The rest did not disturb him. The boys
+were unusually quiet that evening, perhaps feeling that the
+responsibility of the safety of the camp rested wholly upon their
+youthful shoulders.
+
+Ned came in at one o'clock, after having taken his turn, unslung his
+rifle, drew the cartridges then put them back in the magazine again.
+
+"I might need them before morning," he told himself.
+
+Chunky being sound asleep, Ned grabbed him by a foot giving him a
+violent pull.
+
+"Wat'cher want? Get out!" growled the fat boy sleepily.
+
+"Get up and take your watch!" commanded Ned.
+
+"Who's afraid of Indians?" mumbled Stacy.
+
+This time Ned took the lad by the collar, jerked him to his feet and
+shook him until Stacy yelled "Ouch!" so loudly as to awaken the entire
+camp.
+
+It took some time, however, to get Stacy himself awake sufficiently to
+make him understand that he had a duty to perform. Finally, however,
+he shouldered his rifle, after surreptitiously helping himself to a
+sandwich from the cook tent. Then he marched off, munching the bread
+and meat.
+
+"See here," snapped Ned, running after him. "You're not measuring off
+your distance. Come back and pace it off."
+
+"How many?"
+
+"Two hundred yards. Stretch your fat legs as far as they'll go, then
+you'll have a yard, more or less."
+
+Stacy started all over again, forgot the count, came back, then tried
+it again. Even at that he was not sure whether he had gone one hundred
+yards or five.
+
+He was awake enough, now, to observe his surroundings. The cool
+breezes of the night were tossing the leaves of the cottonwoods near
+the water course to the west of them, while here and there in the
+foliage might be heard the exultant notes of a mocking bird.
+
+Stacy shivered.
+
+"Guess it's going to freeze to-night," he decided, beginning his
+steady tramp about the camp of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+Muttering to himself, as was his habit when alone, Stacy kept on until
+finding himself opposite the ponies, he decided to go over and look at
+them. All were asleep. Not one had awakened since going down under the
+powerful influence of the "sleepy grass."
+
+"I'd like to eat some of that stuff myself, right now," Chunky decided
+out loud. "I'd have a good excuse for going to sleep then. Now I can't
+without getting jumped on by the fellows. Wonder what time it is--only
+half-past one. Must be something the matter with my watch. I know
+I've been out more'n two hours."
+
+This trip he circled out further from the camp, growing a little more
+confident because nothing had happened to disturb him.
+
+In the meantime the camp slept in peace--that is, the lads did until
+nearly time for the change of guard. Then the whole party was aroused
+with the sudden, startling conviction that something serious had
+happened.
+
+All at once the crack of a rifle sounded on the still night air. It
+was followed by another shot, and another, until four distinct reports
+had rolled across the plains.
+
+In wild disorder the Pony Rider Boys tumbled from their cots, and,
+grasping their weapons, leaped from the tents.
+
+"What's the row?" inquired the Professor.
+
+"Wow! Wow! Wow! Yeow!" shrieked a shrill voice to the northward.
+
+"It's Chunky. He's giving the alarm! We're attacked!" cried the lads.
+
+Bang! Bang!
+
+They saw the flash of the fat boy's weapon before the report reached
+their ears.
+
+A moment later the other boys caught sight of Stacy dashing into camp,
+hatless, waving his rifle and yelling as if bereft of his senses.
+
+"What is it? What is it?" cried the boys with one voice.
+
+"Indians! Indians! The prairie's full of them!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+MEETING THE ATTACK
+
+
+Instantly the camp was thrown into confusion. The lads ran here and
+there, not knowing what to do.
+
+"Get behind the ponies! That's the only cover we can find here. Run
+for it!"
+
+And run they did, the Professor outdistancing all the rest in his
+attempt to secrete himself where the enemy's weapons would not be
+likely to reach him.
+
+In a moment more, the camp of the Pony Rider Boys was deserted, and
+behind each sleeping pony lay a boy, with rifle barrel poked over the
+animal's back, ready to shoot at the first sign of the redskins.
+Stacy, in his excitement, had forgotten that not a cartridge was left
+in his magazine, and the others were too fully occupied to remember to
+tell him.
+
+For all of half an hour did the party lie protected. The boys began to
+grow restive. Tad's suspicions were being slowly aroused.
+
+"I'm going to do a little scouting," he told them, slipping from
+behind the pony and skulking along back of the tents. The moon was
+shining brightly now. He could see a long distance. Not a human being
+was in sight.
+
+"I thought so," he muttered, retracing his steps. "See here, Stacy
+Brown, what did you see--what did you shoot at?" he demanded sternly.
+
+"I--I shot the chute--I--I mean I chuted the shot--I mean--"
+
+"Say, what do you mean?"
+
+"I--I mean--say, leggo my neck, will you?" roared Chunky.
+
+"Fellows, he doesn't know what he means."
+
+"Guess he's been feeding on crazy grass out on the prairie," was Ned's
+conclusion.
+
+"There isn't an Indian anywhere around here. I know it. They would
+have been after us long before this, if there had been."
+
+One by one the boys came from their hiding places, the lazy Mexican
+last. Disapproving eyes were turned on Stacy.
+
+"Chunky, you come along and show us where you were when you shot--did
+you shoot at an Indian?" asked Tad.
+
+"Yes, and I--I--I shot him."
+
+"Show us. We're all from Chillicothe," demanded Ned.
+
+Stacy, with a show of importance, led the way, keeping a wary eye out
+for the enemy. It was noticed, however, that each of the lads held his
+rifle ready for business in case there should be an enemy about.
+
+"There! I was standing right over there--I guess."
+
+"You guess! Don't you know?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Yes; that's the place."
+
+The lad walked over to the identical spot from which he had first
+fired his rifle.
+
+"He was over there and I shot at him, so," said Stacy, leveling the
+weapon. "Ye-ow! There he is, now!" shrieked the boy.
+
+Every weapon flashed up to a level with the eyes.
+
+"There is something over there on the ground," decided the Professor.
+
+"Put down your guns so you don't shoot me," said Tad. "I'm going to
+find out what it is."
+
+Keeping his own weapon held at "ready," the lad walked boldly over to
+where a heap of some sort lay on the plain. It surely had not been
+there during the afternoon--Tad knew that.
+
+He reached it, stooped, peered, then uttered a yell.
+
+"What is it?" they cried, hurrying up.
+
+"You've done it now, Chunky Brown. You certainly have gone and done
+it."
+
+"What--what is it?" cried the others in alarm.
+
+"You've shot the lazy Mexican's burro. That's your Indian, Stacy
+Brown."
+
+Juan, who had followed them out on the plain, uttered a wail and threw
+himself upon the body of his prostrate burro. The animal, it seemed,
+had recovered consciousness during the night, and in a half-dazed
+condition had wandered out on the plain. Stacy, while crouching down
+on the ground, had seen the head and long ears of the burro. He
+thought the ears were part of the head dress of a savage and let fly a
+volley of bullets at it.
+
+"He--he isn't dead," shouted the fat boy. "See, I just pinked him in
+the ears."
+
+And, surely enough, an examination revealed a hole through each ear.
+The holes were so close to the animal's head that it was reasonable to
+suppose the shot had stunned him, being already in a weakened
+condition from the sleepy grass.
+
+The boys set to work to rouse the burro, which they succeeded in doing
+in a short time. Juan, with arm around the lazy beast's neck, led it
+back to camp, petting and soothing it with a chattering that they
+could not understand.
+
+There was no more sleep in camp that night, though the boys turned in
+at the Professor's suggestion. Every little while, laughter would
+sound in one of the tents, as the others fell to discussing Stacy's
+Indian attack.
+
+The next morning they were overjoyed to find that the ponies had
+awakened and were trying to get up.
+
+"Lead them out of that grass, fellows," shouted Tad, the moment he saw
+the ponies were coming around. "We don't want them to make another
+meal of that stuff."
+
+"Nor take another of Chunky's Rip Van Winkle sleeps," added Ned.
+
+Never having had a like experience, none of the lads knew what to do
+with their mounts after getting them sufficiently awake to lead them
+to a place of safety. They appealed to Juan for advice, but the lazy
+Mexican appeared to know even less than they.
+
+Tad, after studying the question a few moments, decided to give them
+water, though sparingly. This they appeared to relish and braced up
+quite a little. But the boy would not allow them to graze until nearly
+noon, when each one took his pony out, making sure that there was none
+of the sleepy grass around. The animals were then permitted to graze.
+
+About the middle of the afternoon Tad decided that all were fit to
+continue the journey, and that it would be safe to travel until
+sunset. Everyone was glad to get away from the spot where they had had
+such unpleasant experiences, and the boys set off, moving slowly, the
+stock not yet being in the best of condition.
+
+Late in the afternoon, when they had about decided to make camp, one
+of the boys espied an object, something like a quarter of a mile away,
+that looked like the roof of a house.
+
+Ned said it couldn't be that, as it appeared to be resting on the
+ground. They asked Juan if he knew what it was, and for a wonder he
+did. He said it was a dug-out--a place where a man lived.
+
+"Is he a hermit?" asked Stacy apprehensively, at which there was a
+laugh. Stacy had not forgotten his experiences in the cave of the
+hermit of the Nevada Desert.
+
+For the next hour, the lads were too busy, pitching tents and
+unloading the pack animals, to give further thought to the dug-out or
+its occupant; but when, after they had prepared their evening meal,
+they saw some one approaching on horseback, they were instantly
+curious again.
+
+The newcomer proved to be the owner of the dug-out. He was a tall,
+square-jawed man, with a short, cropped iron-gray beard and small
+blue, twinkling eyes.
+
+"Will you join us and have some supper?" asked Tad politely, walking
+out to greet the stranger.
+
+"Thank you; I will, young man," smiled the stranger.
+
+Tad introduced himself and companions.
+
+"You probably have heard my name before, young men. It is Kris
+Kringle; I'm living out here for my health and doing a little ranching
+on the side."
+
+Stacy looked his amazement.
+
+"Is--is he Santa Claus?" he whispered, tugging at Tad's coat sleeve.
+
+"No, young man. I am not related to the gentleman you refer to,"
+grinned Mr. Kringle.
+
+There was a general laugh at Stacy's expense.
+
+After supper, the visitor invited all hands to ride over to his
+dug-out and spend the evening with him. The boys accepted gladly,
+never having seen the inside of a dug-out, and not knowing what one
+looked like. Professor Zepplin had taken a sudden liking to the man
+with the Christmas name, and soon the two were engaged in earnest
+conversation.
+
+The distance being so short, Tad decided that they had better walk,
+leaving the ponies in charge of Juan so they might get a full night's
+rest. Then all hands set out for the dug-out.
+
+A short flight of steps led down into the place, the roof of which was
+raised just far enough above the ground to permit of two narrow
+windows on each side and at the rear end.
+
+The room in which they found themselves, proved to be a combination
+kitchen and dining room. Its neatness and orderliness impressed them
+at once.
+
+"And here," said Kris Kringle, "is what I call my den," throwing open
+a door leading into a rear room and lighting a hanging oil lamp.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys uttered an exclamation of surprised delight.
+
+On a hardwood floor lay a profusion of brightly colored Navajo rugs,
+the walls being hung with others of exquisite workmanship and
+coloring, interspersed with weapons and trophies of the chase, while
+in other parts of the room were rare specimens of pottery from ancient
+adobe houses of the Pueblos.
+
+At the far end of the room was a great fire-place. Book cases,
+home-made, stood about the room, full of books. The Professor
+realized, at once, that they were in the home of a student and a
+collector.
+
+"This is indeed an oasis in the desert," he glowed. "I shall be loath
+to leave here."
+
+"Then don't," smiled Mr. Kringle. "I'm sure I am glad enough to have
+company. Seldom ever see anyone here, except now and then a roving
+band of Indians."
+
+"Indians!" exclaimed Tad. "Do you have any trouble with them?"
+
+"Well, they know better than to bother with me much. We have had an
+occasional argument," said their host, his jaws setting almost
+stubbornly for the instant. "Most of the tribes in the state are
+peaceful, though the Apaches are as bad as ever. They behave
+themselves because they have to, not because they wish to do so."
+
+"I saw their fire dance the other night," began Tad.
+
+"What?" demanded Mr. Kringle.
+
+"Fire dance."
+
+"Tell me about it?"
+
+Tad did so, the host listening with grave face until the recital was
+ended.
+
+He shook his head disapprovingly.
+
+"And this--this Indian that you knocked down--was he an Apache?"
+
+"I don't know. I think so, though. He had on a peculiar head dress
+
+"That was one of them," interrupted Mr. Kringle, with emphasis. "And
+I'll wager you haven't heard the last of him yet. That's an insult
+which the Apache brave will harbor under his copper skin forever.
+He'll wait for years, but he'll get even if he can."
+
+The faces of the Pony Rider Boys were grave.
+
+"Have you a reliable guide?"
+
+"Far from it," answered the Professor. "If I knew where I could get
+another, I'd pack him off without ceremony."
+
+Kris Kringle was silent for a moment.
+
+"I need a little change of scene," he smiled. "How would you like to
+have me take the trail with you for a week or so?"
+
+"Would you?" glowed the Professor, half rising from his chair.
+
+"I think I might."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried the Pony Riders enthusiastically. "That will be fine."
+
+"Of course, you understand that I expect no pay. I am going because I
+happen to take a notion to do so. Perhaps I'll be able to serve you at
+the same time."
+
+The Professor grasped Mr. Kringle by the hand impulsively.
+
+"I'll send that lazy Juan on his way this very night--"
+
+"Let me do it," interposed Stacy, with flushing face. "I'll do it
+right, Professor. But I'll put on my pair of heavy boots first, so
+it'll hurt him more."
+
+The boys shouted with laughter, while the new guide's eyes twinkled
+merrily.
+
+"I think, perhaps, the young man might do it even more effectively
+than you or I," he said. "Have you weapons, Professor?"
+
+"Rifles."
+
+"That's good. We may need them."
+
+"Then you think?"
+
+"One can never tell."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+RIDING WITH KRIS KRINGLE
+
+
+A slender ribbon of dust unrolling across the plain far to the
+northward marked the receding trail of Juan and his lazy burro. They
+had given him a week's extra pay and sent him on his way.
+
+The burro was making for home, aided by the busy feet of its master,
+while Stacy Brown, shading his eyes with one hand, was watching the
+progress of the guide, whom he had just sent adrift.
+
+"Well, he's gone," grinned Stacy, turning to his companions, who were
+busy striking camp.
+
+"And a good riddance," nodded Tad.
+
+"He'll probably join the Indians and tell them where we are,"
+suggested Walter.
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," replied Tad. "Still, if they wish to find
+us they know how without Juan's telling them."
+
+"How?"
+
+"They can follow a trail with their eyes shut," said Ned.
+
+"That's right. They do not need to be told," muttered Tad.
+
+Everything being in readiness, the boys started with their outfit for
+the dug-out, where they were to be joined by Kris Kringle. They felt a
+real relief to know that they were to have with them a strong man on
+whom they were sure they could rely to do the right thing under all
+circumstances. Tad, however, believed that Mr. Kringle had decided to
+join them, fearing they would be attacked by the Apaches and come to
+serious harm. Yet he hardly thought the redskins would dare to follow
+them, after the latter had once gotten over the frenzy of their fire
+dance. By that time the Indian agents would have rounded them all up
+on the reservations, where the Indians would be able to do no more
+harm for a while.
+
+After picking up the new guide the start was made. The party had water
+in plenty in the water-bags, so that no effort was made to pick up a
+water hole when they made camp late in the afternoon. The guide had
+brought in his pack a tough old sage hen, at which the lads were
+inclined to jeer when he announced his intention of cooking it for
+their supper.
+
+"You'll change your mind when you taste it, young gentlemen. It
+depends upon the cooking entirely. A sage hen may be a delicious
+morsel, or it may not," answered Mr. Kringle, with a grin.
+
+They were encamped near a succession of low-lying buttes, and to while
+away the time until the supper hour, the boys strolled away singly to
+stretch their legs on the plain after the long day's ride in the hot
+sun.
+
+When they returned an hour or so later, Stacy, they observed, was
+swinging a curious forked stick that he had picked up somewhere a few
+moments ago.
+
+"What you got there?" questioned Ned.
+
+"Don't know. Picked it up on the plain. Such a funny looking thing,
+that I brought it along."
+
+"Let me see it," asked Mr. Kringle.
+
+Stacy handed it to him.
+
+"This," said the guide, turning the stick over in his hand, "is a
+divining rod."
+
+"Divining rod?" demanded Stacy, pressing forward.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Never heard of it. Is it good to eat?"
+
+"Looks to me like a wish bone," interjected Ned. "Do you eat wish
+bones, Chunky?"
+
+"Might, if I were hungry enough."
+
+"A divining rod is used to locate springs. Some users of it have been
+very successful. I couldn't find a lake with it, even if I fell in
+first."
+
+"Indeed," marveled the Professor. "I have heard of the remarkable work
+of divining rods. What Rind of wood is it?"
+
+"This is hazel wood. Oak, elm, ash or privet also are used, but hazel
+is preferred in this country."
+
+"Then--then we won't have to go dry any more--I can find water with
+this when I'm dry?" questioned Stacy.
+
+"You might; then again you might not."
+
+"Better take it away from him," suggested Ned. "He might find a
+spring. If he did he'd be sure to fall in and drown."
+
+The stick, which was shaped like the letter Y, was an object of great
+interest to the Pony Rider Boys. One by one they took it out on the
+plain, in an effort to locate some water. The guide instructed them to
+hold the Y with the bottom up, one prong in each hand and to walk
+slowly.
+
+But, try as they would, they were able to get no results.
+
+"The thing's a fraud!" exclaimed Ned disgustedly, throwing the
+divining rod away.
+
+Stacy picked it up.
+
+"I know why it doesn't work," he said.
+
+"Why?" demanded the other boys.
+
+"'Cause--'cause there isn't any water to make it work," he replied
+wisely.
+
+The boys groaned.
+
+Shortly after returning to camp, they found the fat boy standing over
+a pail of water holding the stick above it.
+
+He was talking to the stick confidentially, urging it to "do
+something," to the intense amusement of the whole outfit.
+
+"Now, where's your theory?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Why, it doesn't have to work, does it? Don't we know there's water
+here? If we didn't the stick would tell us, maybe. Take my word for
+it, this outfit won't have to go dry after this. Stacy Brown and his
+magic wand will find all the water needed," continued the fat boy
+proudly.
+
+"Your logic is good, at any rate, even if the rod doesn't work at
+command," laughed the Professor.
+
+Supper was a jolly affair, for everyone was in high spirits. The sage
+hen, contrary to general expectation, was found to be delicious.
+Chunky begged for the wish bone and got it. He said he'd use it for a
+divining rod when he wanted to find a little spring.
+
+"Mr. Kringle, I am commissioned by the fellows to ask you a question,"
+announced Tad, after the meal had been in progress for a time.
+
+"Ask it," smiled the guide.
+
+"We thought we'd like to call you Santa Claus, seeing you've brought
+us so much cheer. Then again, it's your name you know. Kris Kringle is
+Santa Claus."
+
+"Oh, well, call me what you please, young men."
+
+From that moment on, Kris Kringle was Santa Claus to the Pony Rider
+Boys.
+
+They had now come to a rolling country, with here and there high
+buttes, followed by large areas of bottom lands which were covered
+with rank growths of bunch grass. Traveling was more difficult than it
+had been, and water more scarce.
+
+It was on the second day out, after they had been skirmishing for
+water in every direction, that the lads heard the familiar yell from
+Chunky.
+
+"There goes the trouble maker," cried Ned. "He's at it again."
+
+The guide bounded up, starting on a run for the spot where Chunky's
+wail had been heard. The others were not far behind.
+
+They saw the red, perspiring face of the fat boy above a clump of
+grass, his yells for help continuing, unabated.
+
+"What is it?" shouted the guide.
+
+"I've got it, Santa Claus! I've got it!"
+
+"Got what?" roared the Professor.
+
+"The stick!--I mean it's got me. Help! Help!"
+
+Stacy was wrestling about as if engaged in combat with some enemy.
+They could not imagine what had gone wrong--what had caused his
+sudden cries of alarm.
+
+"It's the divining rod!" called the guide.
+
+"He's found water!" shouted the boys.
+
+"I've got it! I've got it! Come help me hold it. The thing's jerking
+my arms off."
+
+To the amazement of the Pony Rider Boys, the forked stick in the hands
+of the fat boy was performing some strange antics. Breathing hard, he
+would force it up until it was nearly upright, when all at once the
+point of the triangle would suddenly swerve downward, bending the rod
+almost to the breaking point.
+
+"See it? See it?"
+
+"Most remarkable," breathed Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Yes, there can be no doubt about it," nodded the guide.
+
+"He's bluffing," disagreed Ned.
+
+"Doesn't look to me as if he were," returned Tad.
+
+"Take hold with me here, if you don't believe me," cried Stacy. "No,
+not on the stick, take hold of my wrists."
+
+Ned promptly accepted the invitation.
+
+Instantly the tug of the divining rod was felt by the new hands.
+
+Ned let go quickly.
+
+"Ugh! The thing gives me the creeps."
+
+"Let me try it, Master Stacy," said Professor Zepplin.
+
+"I can't let go of it," wailed Chunky.
+
+"Step off a piece," directed the guide.
+
+Stacy did so, whereupon the divining rod immediately ceased its
+peculiar actions.
+
+The Professor took hold of it, but the rod refused to work for him.
+
+"Let Santa Claus try it," suggested Ned.
+
+The guide did so, but with no more success than the Professor had had.
+
+"I told you it wouldn't work for me," Mr. Kringle grinned. "Here,
+Master Tad, you try it."
+
+Tad, with the rod grasped firmly in his hands, walked back and forth
+three times without result. On the fourth attempt, however, the stick
+suddenly bent nearly double.
+
+All were amazed.
+
+"Why were we unable to get results, Mr. Kringle?" questioned the
+Professor.
+
+"According to some French writers as much depends upon the man as on
+the divining rod. Where one succeeds another fails absolutely.
+Supposing the others take a try?"
+
+Walter and Ned did so, but neither could get the rod to move for him.
+
+"I guess Chunky is the champion water-finder," laughed Ned.
+
+"Would it not be a good idea to find out whether or not there is water
+here?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Yes," agreed the guide. "It may be so far down that we cannot reach
+it, however. You know in some parts of this region they are locating
+water with the rod and sinking artesian wells."
+
+"Why--why didn't we think to bring some down with us?" demanded
+Chunky. "Can't we get any in some of the towns down here?"
+
+"Some what?" questioned the guide.
+
+"Artesian wells."
+
+A roar greeted the fat boy's question.
+
+"Bring down a load of artesian wells!" jeered Ned.
+
+"An artesian well, my boy, is nothing more than a hole in the ground,"
+the guide informed him, much to Chunky's chagrin.
+
+The spot where the divining rod had so suddenly gotten busy was about
+midway of an old water course, covered with a thick growth of bunch
+grass.
+
+"Get some tools, boys," directed the Professor.
+
+Tad ran back to camp, which lay some distance to the east of where
+they were gathered. Searching out a pick and two shovels, he leaped on
+his pony, dashing back to the arroyo.
+
+"That was quickly done," smiled Santa Claus. "Are all of you lads as
+quick on an errand as that?"
+
+"Only Chunky," answered Ned solemnly.
+
+The guide began to dig, in which effort he was joined by Stacy Brown,
+who, with a shovel, caved in about as much dirt as he threw out.
+
+"Here, give me that shovel," commanded Ned. "You'll fill up the bole
+before we get it dug."
+
+Tad, having tethered his pony, took the extra shovel and went to work.
+
+"Guess it's a false alarm," decided Ned, after they were up to their
+shoulders in the hole.
+
+"Don't be too sure. The ground is quite damp here. Try your rod, young
+man."
+
+"Chunky held the divining rod over the excavation, whereupon it drew
+down with even greater force than before.
+
+"Dig," directed the guide.
+
+They did so with a will.
+
+"Here's water!" shouted Kris Kringle.
+
+They crowded about the hole, amazement written on every face.
+
+A fresh, cool stream bubbled up into the hole, causing those in the
+pit to scramble out hastily.
+
+"Some of you boys run back to camp and fetch pails and water-bags,"
+directed the guide.
+
+"I'll go. I've got the pony here," spoke up Tad.
+
+"No; I want you to do something else for me."
+
+"We'll all go," offered Walter. The three lads started on a run,
+Chunky holding his precious divining rod tightly clasped in both
+hands.
+
+"What is it you wish?" questioned Tad.
+
+"I wish you would ride over toward that small butte and cut a load of
+brush. Want to rip-rap the outer edge of this water hole, so the bank
+will not cave in and undo all our work! Have you a hatchet?"
+
+"Yes, in my saddlebags."
+
+"Good. Hurry, please."
+
+Tad leaped into the saddle, and putting spurs to his broncho, tore
+through the high bunch grass, above which only his head was now
+observable. In a short time he was back with the green stuff piled
+high on the saddle in front of him, with a large bundle tied to the
+cantle of the saddle behind.
+
+Unloading this, Butler started back at a gallop for more. When there
+was work to be done, Tad Butler was happy. Activity to him was a tonic
+that spurred him on to ever greater efforts.
+
+This time he found himself obliged to climb higher up the butte in
+order to get branches of available size. These he cut and threw down.
+After having procured what he thought would be all he could carry the
+lad scrambled down, and, dropping on his knees began tying them into
+bundles. The heat was sweltering, and occasionally be paused to wipe
+away the perspiration.
+
+"I smell smoke," sniffed Tad. "I wonder where it comes from?"
+
+The odor grew stronger, but so interested was he in his labor that he
+did not at once understand the significance of his discovery.
+
+"W-h-o-o-e-e!"
+
+It was a long-drawn, warning shout.
+
+"It's a signal!" exclaimed the lad, straightening up. "I wonder what's
+the matter?"
+
+As he looked toward the camp a great wall of flame seemed to leap from
+the ground between him and his companions. There it poised for one
+brief instant, then, with a roar swooped down into the tall bunch
+grass, rushing roaring and crackling toward him.
+
+For an instant he stood unbelieving, then the truth dawned upon him.
+
+"The prairie's on fire!" cried Tad.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DASH FOR LIFE
+
+
+The shouts of the Pony Rider Boys and of the guide were swallowed up
+in the roar of the flames.
+
+"They'll be burned alive!" whispered the lad.
+
+Then, all at once he realized that he himself was in dire peril.
+
+"I'll have to go the other way and be quick about it at that," he
+decided, making a dash for the pony, that already was whinnying with
+fear and tugging at its tether.
+
+Tad did not wait to untie the stake rope. With a sweep of his knife he
+severed it and vaulted into the saddle.
+
+Whirling the animal about he headed to the west. To his alarm he
+suddenly discovered that the prairie fire was rapidly encircling him,
+the flames running around the outer edge of the bottoms with express
+train speed, threatening to head him off and envelop him. Had it not
+been for the long grass, which, tangling the feet of the pony, made
+full speed impossible, the race with the flames would have been an
+easy one to win. As it was, Tad knew that the chances were against
+him.
+
+But the dire peril in which he found himself did not daunt the Pony
+Rider Boy. Perhaps his face had grown a shade paler underneath the
+tan, but that was all. His senses were on the alert, his lips met in a
+firm pressure and the hand gripped the bridle rein a little more
+firmly, perhaps, than usual.
+
+Uttering a shrill cry to inform his companions that he was alive to
+his peril, and at the same time to encourage the broncho, Tad dug in
+the rowels of his spurs.
+
+The frightened pony cleared the ground with all four feet, uttering a
+squeal, and launching itself at the rapidly narrowing clear space
+ahead of him; and urged to greater and greater endeavor at every leap
+by the short, sharp "yips" of his rider.
+
+For all the concern that showed in his face, Tad Butler might have
+been running a horse race for a prize rather than fleeing for his
+life.
+
+"If I make it I'm lucky,"--commented Tad grimly. He found himself
+wondering, at the same time, how the fire had started. He knew that
+the flames first showed themselves midway between where he was at work
+and the place where his companions were engaged at the water hole.
+
+He could not understand it. Fire was necessary to use to start fire,
+and he knew that none of them had been foolish enough even to light a
+match in the dry bunch grass of the prairie.
+
+The flames were reaching mountain high by this time, great clouds of
+smoke rolling in on the breeze and nearly suffocating him.
+
+At times Tad was unable to see the opening ahead of him. When,
+however, the smoke lifted, giving him a momentary view, he saw that
+the gap was rapidly closing.
+
+All at once his attention was drawn from the closing gap.
+
+"Yeow! Yeow! Yeow! Y-e-o-w!"
+
+A series of shrill, blood curdling yells from out the pall of smoke
+and flame at the rear, bombarded his ears.
+
+At first he thought it was Indians; then the improbability of this
+being the case came to him.
+
+"Yeow! Yeow! Yeow!" persisted the voice behind, and it was coming
+nearer every second.
+
+Tad slackened the speed of his pony ever so little, despite the peril
+of his position.
+
+"There's somebody in there behind me, and, he'll never get out alive
+if he loses his way."
+
+The moment this thought occurred to him, Tad began to yell at the top
+of his voice.
+
+Suddenly from out the thick veil of smoke burst a pony with a mighty
+snort, coming on in bounds, each one of which cleared many feet of
+ground. On the pony's back was Stacy Brown, hatless, coatless, his
+hair standing up in the breeze, his face as red as if it had come in
+actual contact with the flames.
+
+"Yeow!" he roared, as his pony shot past Tad as if the latter's mount
+were standing still. Where Stacy had come from, how he had passed
+through that wall of flame, Tad had not the slightest idea.
+
+As a matter of fact the explanation was simple enough. The guide had
+sent Chunky out to assist Tad in bringing in the rip-rapping material.
+Stacy had made a detour from the camp, having gotten just inside the
+danger zone when the fire broke out. Guided by the butte where he knew
+his companion must be, Stacy headed for that point. There he came upon
+Tad's trail, and began yelling to attract his attention. He had heard
+Tad's answering cry, and this inspired the fat boy to renewed efforts.
+
+Stacy, now that he had passed Tad, slowed up ever so little. He had
+passed his companion so swiftly that he was unable to determine
+whether or not Tad were in distress.
+
+The latter came up, overhauling Stacy in a few moments. Both ponies
+were steaming from the terrific gruelling they were giving themselves.
+
+"What you doing here?" exploded Tad.
+
+"Same thing you are."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Trying to save myself from being burned alive--"
+
+"Don't slow up! Don't slow up!" shouted Tad. "Keep going!"
+
+"I am. Wat's matter with you?"
+
+"I don't see what you had to come tumbling into this mess for,"
+objected Tad.
+
+"Didn't tumble in. Rode in. Came to help you--"
+
+"Precious lot of help you'll be to me. Lucky if we're not both burned
+with our boots on. See! The flame's narrowing in on us. More steam,
+Chunky! More steam!" urged Tad.
+
+"Can't. Blow up the boiler if I do," Stacy could not be other than
+humorous, even under their present trying situation.
+
+"That's better than burning out your fires, and it's quicker too--"
+
+All at once, Chunky uttered a terrible howl. His pony had stepped into
+a hole and gone down floundering in the long grass, Chunky himself
+having been hurled over the animal's head, landing several feet in
+advance.
+
+"Help! Help!"
+
+The rest was lost as the fat boy's face plowed the earth filling
+mouth, eyes and nostrils.
+
+Tad did not lose his presence of mind, though events had been
+following each other in such quick succession.
+
+Changing the reins to his right hand and bunching them there, he
+grasped the pommel of the saddle, driving his own pony straight at the
+kicking, floundering Chunky.
+
+The pony swerved ever so little, Tad's body swept down, and when it
+rose, his fingers were fastened in the shirt collar of his companion,
+with Chunky yelling and choking, as he was being dragged over the
+ground at almost a killing pace.
+
+Tad had no time to do more than hold on to his friend. He dared not
+stop to lift him to the saddle just then. The flames were roaring
+behind them and on either side, leaving a long, narrow lane ahead,
+through which lay their only hope of safety.
+
+"Buck up! Buck up, Chunky!" shouted Tad, himself taking a fresh brace
+in the stirrups, for the weight of the fat boy's dragging body was
+slowly pulling Tad from the saddle.
+
+Stacy was howling like an Indian, not from fear, but from anger at the
+rough usage to which he was being subjected. He did not stop to think
+that it was the only way his life might be saved--nor that his own
+pony lay back there in the bunch grass amid the flame and smoke.
+
+Tad knew it.
+
+Now, by a mighty effort Tad righted himself again, and, leaning
+forward, threw one arm about the pony's neck, trusting to the animal
+to follow the outward trail to safety of its own accord.
+
+Tad felt a sudden jolt that nearly caused him to slide from his pony
+on the side opposite Chunky. At the same time, the strain on the lad's
+arm was suddenly released.
+
+Tad was up on his saddle like a flash. His right hand held the fat
+boy's shirt, while a series of howls to the rear told him where the
+owner of the shirt lay.
+
+Tad groaned. Pulling his pony fairly back on its haunches, he dashed
+back where Stacy lay kicking, entangling himself deeper and deeper in
+the bunch grass.
+
+Had Tad not had presence of mind they both might have perished right
+there. He was off like a flash. With supreme strength, he grasped the
+body of his fallen companion, raising him into the saddle.
+
+"Hold on!" he shouted. "Don't you dare fall off!"
+
+Stacy clung like a monkey to a pony in a circus race.
+
+"Y-i-i-p!" trilled Tad. He had no time to mount. Already he could feel
+the hot breath of the flames on his cheek.
+
+The broncho was off with a bound.
+
+"Tad! Tad!" cried Chunky in sudden alarm, now realizing that he was
+alone. "Whe--where are you?"
+
+"H-h-h-h-e-r-e!"
+
+"W-w-where?"
+
+"H-h-h-holding to the b-r-r-oncho's t-tail."
+
+"Wow!" howled Stacy, as, turning in the saddle, he discovered his
+companion being fairly jerked through the air, holding fast to the
+pony's tail, the lad's feet hardly touching the ground at all. The
+broncho, that ordinarily would have resented such treatment, too fully
+occupied in saving his own life from the flames, gave no heed to the
+weight he was dragging, and it is doubtful if he even realized there
+was any additional weight there.
+
+With a final, desperate leap, the broncho shot out ahead of the
+narrowing lane. Like the jaws of some great monster, the two lapping
+lines of fire closed in behind them, roaring as if with deadly rage.
+
+The pony dashed out into a broad, open water course, whose dry,
+glistening sands would prove an effectual barrier to the prairie fire.
+
+Tad, though everything was swimming before his eyes, realized quickly
+that they were now well out of danger.
+
+"St-t-t-top him. I c-c-c-an't let go if you d-d-don't."
+
+"Whoa! Whoa! Don't you know enough to quit when you're through?"
+chided Chunky, tugging at the reins. The broncho carried them some
+distance before the lad was able to pull him down. Finally he did so.
+
+"Leggo!" he shouted, at the same time whirling the pony sharply about,
+fairly "cracking the whip" with Tad Butler.
+
+Chunky's clever foresight probably saved Tad Butler's life, for,
+instantly the pony found itself free, it began bucking and kicking in
+a circle, kicking a ring all round the compass before it finally
+decided to settle down on all fours. Finishing, it meekly lowered its
+nose to the ground and now, as docile as a kitten after having supped
+on warm milk, began dozing, the steam rising in a cloud from its
+sides.
+
+"Well, of all the fool fools, you're the champion fool!" growled
+Stacy, slipping from the saddle and surveying the broncho with
+disapproving eyes. "Hah! I guess we'd been done to a turn by this if
+it hadn't been for you, just the same. Hello, Tad!"
+
+Tad had doubled up in a heap where the tail of the broncho had flung
+him. He was well-nigh spent, but he smiled back at his companion, who
+stood on a slight rise of ground, almost a heroic figure.
+
+Chunky's shirt was entirely missing, his skin red from the heat,
+ridged with scratches where he had come in violent contact with cactus
+plants, his hair tousled and gray with dust.
+
+"Well you are a sight," grinned Tad.
+
+"You wouldn't take a prize at a baby show yourself," retorted Stacy,
+spicily.
+
+Tad's clothes were torn, and his limbs were black and blue all the way
+down where the hoofs of the broncho had raked them again and again.
+
+"My arms feel a foot longer than they did. What are you looking at?"
+
+Stacy's eyes grew large and luminous as he gazed off over the plains.
+
+"Look! Look, Tad!" he whispered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+FOLLOWING A HOT TRAIL
+
+
+"Fire! Fire!" cried Professor Zepplin, leaping up from where he had
+been leaning over, watching the water bubbling in the bottom of the
+excavation they had made.
+
+The guide had been hanging over the hole, dipping water to Ned, who
+was turning it into the water-bags.
+
+"Where, where?" demanded Mr. Kringle explosively. He also sprang to
+his feet. "It's a prairie fire!"
+
+"The boys are caught. They'll perish!" exclaimed Professor Zepplin,
+with blanching face. "Go to them, go to them, Mr. Kringle!" he begged.
+
+"No living thing could get through that wall of fire, Professor,"
+announced the guide impressively. "We'll shout and perhaps, if alive,
+they'll bear us."
+
+They did so, with the result already known.
+
+"Which direction did Master Stacy take?" Mr. Kringle asked.
+
+"I saw him riding down that way," replied Walter, pointing excitedly.
+
+"Then, perhaps he is safe outside of the fire zone. Some of you hurry
+back to the camp, The stock may take fright and stampede. No, we'll
+all go. The wind may shift at any moment, and while I do not think the
+flames could reach the camp, all our animals might be suffocated, even
+if they did not succeed in getting away."
+
+"But you're not going to desert Tad and Chunky, are you?" demanded
+Walter indignantly.
+
+"Certainly not. What can we do here? We must get the ponies first;
+then we'll hurry to them. I'm afraid they've been caught," answered
+the guide.
+
+"If there's any way of escape you may depend upon it that Master Tad
+has discovered that way," answered the Professor. "He is a resourceful
+boy, and--"
+
+But the rest were already dashing madly toward the camp and Professor
+Zepplin began to do so with all speed to catch up with them. The hot
+breath of the prairie fire had brought the color to his blanched
+cheeks.
+
+"How--how do you think the fire started?" stammered the Professor,
+when he at last came up with the guide.
+
+"It was set afire," answered Kris Kringle grimly.
+
+"Set!" shouted the Professor and the two boys all in one breath.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"That remains to be seen."
+
+"Do you mean that one of the boys was imprudent enough to build a fire
+in that grass? Surely they would not have been so foolish as to do a
+thing like that."
+
+"As I said, that remains to be seen. The first thing to be done is to
+get to them as quickly as possible, though I don't know that we can do
+any good. They're either out of it, by this time, or else they're
+not," added Mr. Kringle suggestively. "Professor, I wish you and one
+of the boys would get out your rifles, mount your ponies and watch the
+camp, while two of us go in search of the lost ones."
+
+"Watch the camp?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Merely as a precaution."
+
+"I'll attend to that. I want all of you to get after Tad and Stacy. We
+don't care about the camp particularly, when compared with two human
+lives."
+
+The smoke was rolling over them in such dense clouds that the camp was
+wholly obscured from view until they were upon it.
+
+"Quick! Get the horses before they break away!" commanded the guide.
+
+"I can't find them!" shouted Ned, who had bounded on ahead and
+disappeared in the great suffocating cloud.
+
+Walter was only a few steps behind him, both boys groping, blinking
+and coughing as the smoke got into eyes and lungs.
+
+"Lie down when it gets stronger than you can stand. There's always a
+current of fresh air near the ground," called the guide.
+
+Both lads adopted his suggestion instantly, and they were none too
+soon, for already they were getting dizzy. After a few long breaths,
+they were up, groping about once more in search of the stock.
+
+"Over to you right," called the Professor.
+
+"We've been there. They're not there at all," answered Ned.
+
+By this time the guide had dived into the cloud.
+
+"The stock has gone," they heard him shoat.
+
+"Have they stampeded?" roared the Professor.
+
+"I don't know. I'll find out in a minute."
+
+"Queer that this smoke blows two ways at once," said Walter.
+
+"There is a slight breeze blowing this way," explained Ned. "Not
+enough, however, to turn the fire back. It has got too good a start."
+
+Suddenly a weird "c-o-o-e-e" sounded to the right of them.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"It's the guide, Walt. He's trying to call the boys, to see if they
+are alive," explained Ned.
+
+"I don't think so. That cry is for some other purpose. I'm going over
+where he is to find out what it does mean. Come on."
+
+Together the lads ran as fast as they could in the direction from
+which the guide's voice had come.
+
+They found him with hands shaped into a megaphone, uttering his shrill
+cries. He made no answer to their questions as to what he was trying
+to do.
+
+All at once off in the cloud they heard rapid hoofbeats. The boys
+glanced at each other in surprise.
+
+"It's the ponies returning," breathed Walter Perkins.
+
+Ned shook his head.
+
+The cries now took on a more insistent tone, and a moment later two
+ponies came whinnying into the camp, snorting with fear. Kris Kringle
+spoke to them sharply, whereupon they came trotting up to him with
+every evidence of pleasure.
+
+The lads were amazed.
+
+"Can you boys shoot a rope?"
+
+"Yes," they answered together.
+
+"Which one is the better at it?"
+
+"Ned is more expert than I am."
+
+"Take one of my ponies. We've got to go after the stock. Rope and
+bring them in as fast as possible. It's getting late, and it will be
+dark before we know it. There's not more than two hours of daylight
+left."
+
+"I can take my pony and help," began Walter.
+
+"You haven't any pony. They're all gone."
+
+Ned and the guide dashed from the camp at break-neck speed. Emerging
+from the dust cloud they saw some of the stock far off on the plain.
+
+"There they are!" cried Ned
+
+"Thank goodness, they're all together. And they are not running. We've
+got them bunched."
+
+"Were they afraid of the smoke? What made them break away?"
+
+"They didn't break away."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Their tethers were cut and they were sent adrift," answered the guide
+grimly.
+
+Ned was speechless with surprise.
+
+Some of the ponies, objecting to being roped, ran away, necessitating
+a lively chase. Kris Kringle worked with the precision of an automatic
+gun and with proportionate speed. In half an hour they had roped all
+the ponies, and, with the burros trailing along behind, started back
+to camp as rapidly as possible.
+
+A heavy pall of smoke still hung over the camp and all the surrounding
+country.
+
+Once more they staked down the ponies and pack animals, and urging
+vigilance on the part of Professor Zepplin, Ned and the guide dashed
+away at full gallop in search of the two missing lads.
+
+"Are we going through the fire?" questioned Ned apprehensively.
+
+"We're going to try it. The worst of it must have passed before this,
+but we may have to turn back or turn out for spots. It's the shortest
+way, and the only course to follow if we want to know what has become
+of them."
+
+Spreading out a little they continued on their way, the ponies
+snorting, threatening to whirl about and race back into the open
+plain. The ground was like a furnace and the grass smouldered beneath
+them, heating their feet and singeing their fetlocks.
+
+Suddenly Ned's pony reared into the air, bucked and hurled its rider
+far over into the smouldering bunch grass.
+
+Ned uttered a yell of warning as he felt himself going.
+
+The guide wheeled like a flash. Ned's mount had whirled and was away
+like a shot. But the guide was after him with even greater speed. The
+chase came to an abrupt ending some few rods farther on, when Kris
+Kringle's lariat squirmed out, bringing the fleeing pony to the ground
+with its nose in the hot dust.
+
+Without dismounting, the guide turned his own mount, and fairly
+dragging the unwilling pony behind him, pounded back to the place
+where Ned had been unhorsed.
+
+"Grab him!" commanded the guide to Ned, who had quickly scrambled to
+his feet. "What was it that he saw?"
+
+"I don't know. Guess he made up his mind to go back."
+
+"No; he saw something. Hang on to him and cover the ground all about
+you till you find it."
+
+"Wha--what do you--"
+
+"Never mind. Look!"
+
+"Here! Here it is!" cried Ned aghast.
+
+The guide was at his side instantly.
+
+"It's a pony," gasped the Pony Rider boy.
+
+Kris Kringle was off his own mount instantly, and bidding Ned hold the
+animal, he made a brief examination of the fallen horse, after which
+he darted here and there, unheeding the fact that the still burning
+grass was blistering his feet through the heavy soles of his boots.
+
+For several rods Kringle ran along the faint trail that Tad and Stacy
+had left, or rather, that the fire had left after passing over it.
+
+"They beat their way out here. We may find them later. Come on!"
+
+Again Ned and the guide dashed away, both keeping their gaze on the
+smoking prairie about them. The smoke now was almost more than they
+could bear.
+
+"Do--do you think they are alive?" asked Ned unsteadily.
+
+"So far. If they are not, it's not their fault. The Professor is
+right. Those boys have pluck enough to pull them through, but
+sometimes pluck alone will not do it. A prairie fire is no respecter
+of pluck."
+
+They burst out into an open space. There were no signs of either of
+the missing boys.
+
+"Something has happened to them. We must have missed them," announced
+the guide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+AGAINST BIG ODDS
+
+
+"What is it, Chunky?"
+
+"There!"
+
+Tad jerked his companion flat on the ground, flattening himself beside
+Stacy at the same instant.
+
+What had caused their sudden alarm was the sight of two Indians,
+sitting on their ponies without saddles, some distance out on the open
+plain. The redskins were wrapped in their brightly colored blankets,
+which enveloped them from head to knees. Even the hands were invisible
+beneath the folds of the blankets.
+
+"D-d-do you think they saw us, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. It's safe to say they did. Indian eyes don't miss very
+much. You ought to know that, by this time. I wish we could make that
+pony lie down."
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+"He's too afraid of the ground--thinks it's still hot, and I don't
+blame him. The fire has singed him pretty well as it is."
+
+The Indians sat their mounts as motionless as statues, the ponies
+headed directly toward where the two lads were lying.
+
+"I'll bet they're got guns under those blankets," decided Tad. "You
+can't trust an Indian even while you are looking at him."
+
+"Anybody'd think you'd been hunting Indians all your life," growled
+Stacy.
+
+"They've been hunting me mostly," grinned Tad.
+
+"And usually caught you," added Chunky.
+
+"I don't like this lying here as if we were scared of them."
+
+"But, what else can we do, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Neither do I. Wish I had a shirt. I'll spoil my complexion clear down
+to my waist. Resides, I'm not fit to be seen."
+
+"You're lucky to be alive," growled Tad. "I'm going to get out of
+this."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Listen, and you'll know. I'm going to get on the pony; then, as soon
+as I'm in the saddle, you jump up behind me and we'll start back to
+camp."
+
+"Not--not through that fire?" protested Stacy.
+
+"No; I don't dare try it. I'm afraid we'd get lost in the smoke and
+perhaps get burned as well. We'll ride out some distance, then turn to
+the left and try to go around the burned district."
+
+"What if the Indians chase us?"
+
+"I don't believe they will. They'll hardly dare do that. And, besides,
+these may be friendly Indians."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Stacy. "They look it."
+
+Tad got up boldly, and without even looking toward the silent red men,
+began fussing about his saddle, cinching the girths, and straightening
+the saddle. His last act before mounting was to see that the coils of
+his lariat were in order.
+
+"All right," announced the lad, vaulting into the saddle.
+
+Stacy scrambled up behind him without loss of time, and they rode out
+into the open, the fat boy peering apprehensively over his companion's
+shoulder.
+
+"You keep watch of them, Chunky, but don't let them see you doing it.
+I won't look at them at all. We don't want them to think we're
+afraid."
+
+Stacy fidgeted.
+
+"You bet I'll watch 'em. Wish I had my rifle."
+
+"I don't."
+
+"Huh!"
+
+"You have distinguished yourself quite enough with that rifle as it
+is. We don't want any more of your fancy shooting."
+
+"There they go," warned Stacy.
+
+"I see them." Tad had been cautiously observing the horsemen out of
+the corners of his eyes. "Moving in the same direction we are. I don't
+like the looks of it. Still, if they don't get any nearer we may be
+thankful."
+
+The pony carrying the boys was walking easily, and the mounts of the
+Indians were doing the same.
+
+"Jog a little," suggested Stacy.
+
+"That's a good idea. It will tell us quickly whether they are trying
+to keep up with us."
+
+He touched the pony lightly with his spurs. The little animal switched
+its tail, for its sides were tender, and started off.
+
+"There they go, Tad! Jogging the same gait as ours!"
+
+Tad's face took on the stubborn look it always wore when he had
+determined upon a certain course of action.
+
+"I'll beat them yet, even if there are only two of them. I wish there
+weren't two of us on this nag."
+
+"I'll get off and walk," suggested. Stacy.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort. That would be a nice thing to do,
+wouldn't it? They'd round you up quicker'n they could a lame burro."
+
+"Say, Tad."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I've got an idea."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"You know that sage hen we had?"
+
+"Yes, what's that got to do with our present predicament?"
+
+"I was wondering why there aren't any sage roosters?"
+
+"You'll be a sage rooster, with your head off, first thing you know,"
+snapped Tad in disgust. "Can't you be serious for a minute? Don't you
+see we are in a fix?"
+
+"Uh-huh!"
+
+"There, that fellow is trying to head us off."
+
+One of the Indians had shot away from his companion, running obliquely
+toward the point to which Tad was headed.
+
+The red man had gotten quite a start before the boys caught the
+significance of his manoeuvre.
+
+Tad dug in the spurs.
+
+At that instant the fat boy's hands had been removed from Tad, to
+whose body they had been clinging.
+
+The pony leaped forward, and Stacy slid over its rump, hitting the
+ground with a jolt that jarred him.
+
+"Wow!" howled Stacy.
+
+Tad, instantly divining what had happened, pulled up sharply; wheeled
+and raced back to where his companion was still complaining loudly and
+rubbing his body.
+
+"Get up!" roared Tad, leaning over and grasping Stacy by the hair of
+his head.
+
+The fat boy was jerked sharply to his feet.
+
+"Quick! Quick, climb up here!"
+
+With the help of his companion, the lad scrambled up behind Tad again,
+muttering and rubbing himself.
+
+By this time the leading horseman had wholly outdistanced them, and
+his pony was now loping along easily, while the second Indian appeared
+to be riding directly toward them, at right angles to the direction in
+which they were traveling.
+
+All at once the two Indians began riding about the boys in a circle,
+uttering short little "yips," intended to terrify the lads, but not
+loud enough to be heard any great distance away.
+
+"Hang on! We're going to ride for keeps now!" warned Tad.
+
+The fat boy threw both arms about his companion's waist as the pony
+let out into a swift run. At first Tad thought he had gotten safely
+out of the circle, only to discover that they had headed him again.
+
+The circle was narrowing, and the Indians were gradually drawing in on
+them.
+
+Stacy's eyes were growing larger every minute, perhaps more from
+astonishment than from fear. Then, too, he could not but admire the
+riding of their pursuers. Even the blankets of the Indians appeared
+not to be disturbed in the least by their rapid riding, the horsemen
+sitting a little sideways on the ponies' backs, the reins bunched
+loosely in their left bands.
+
+"They've got us, Tad."
+
+"They shan't get us!" retorted Tad stubbornly. "If they don't use
+their guns--and I don't believe they will--we'll beat them yet."
+
+If Stacy was doubtful he did not say so.
+
+"If they get close to us, you be ready to let go of me when I give the
+word," cautioned Tad.
+
+"What for? What you going to do?"
+
+"I don't know yet. That depends upon circumstances. I'm not going to
+let them have it all their own way while I've got a pony under me. We
+may get help any minute, too, so the longer we can put off a clash the
+better it will be for us."
+
+"Who you mean--Santa Claus?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"They're closing in now," said Stacy.
+
+"Take your hands away from my waist."
+
+"But I'll fall off, Tad."
+
+"Slip one hand through under my belt and take hold of the cantle with
+the other. Sit as low as you can so as not to get in my way."
+
+Stacy obeyed his companion's directions without further comment, but
+he was all curiosity to know what was going to happen next.
+
+The Indians were drawing nearer every second now. The boys could see
+the expressions on their evil faces, intensified by the streaks of
+yellow and red paint.
+
+"They look as though they'd stuck their heads in a paint pail," was
+Chunky's muttered comment.
+
+The blankets fell away from the racing savages, flapped on the rumps
+of the bobbing ponies for a few seconds and then slipped to the
+ground.
+
+A rifle was reposing in each man's holster, as Tad observed instantly.
+He was thankful to note that the guns were not in the hands of the
+Indians.
+
+The lad's right hand had dropped carelessly to the saddle horn, the
+fingers cautiously gathering in the coils of the lariat that hung
+there. The red men did not appear to have observed his act.
+
+"Lie low!" commanded Tad, scarcely above a whisper.
+
+Stacy settled down slowly so as not to attract attention.
+
+One horseman shot directly across Tad's course, striking the lad's
+pony full in the face as he did so, and causing the animal to brace
+himself so suddenly as to nearly unseat both boys.
+
+Tad's rope was in the air in a twinkling.
+
+A warning shout from the second Indian, who was just to the rear of
+them, came too late. The rope shot true to its mark and the first
+savage, with back half-turned, had failed to observe it coming.
+
+The great loop dropped over his head. The pony braced itself and Tad
+took a quick turn of the rope about the pommel of his saddle.
+
+The result was instantaneous. The Indian was catapulted from his
+saddle with arms pinioned to his aide.
+
+"Ye-ow!" howled Chunky; unable to restrain his enthusiasm.
+
+Tad did not even hear him.
+
+"Look out! Here comes the other one!" warned the fat boy.
+
+But Tad was too busily engaged in keeping the line taut about the
+roped Indian. The fellow was struggling on the ground, fighting to
+free himself, while the boy with the rope was manoeuvring his pony in
+a series of lightning-like movements that made the fat boy's head
+swim.
+
+"Take care of him, Chunky!! I can't," gasped Tad.
+
+Stacy's eyes took on a belligerent expression as the second savage
+bore down upon them, with knees gripped tightly against the side of
+his pony, half raising himself above the animal's back, reins dropped
+on the pony's neck. The Indian was guiding his mount by the pressure
+of legs and knees alone.
+
+The angry redskin was making futile attempts to get into a position
+where he might grab the active Tad. He did not seem to take into
+account the cringing figure behind the boy who had roped the other
+Indian.
+
+All at once, at the opportune moment, his pony forging ahead, the
+Indian's hand shot out. The red, bony fingers were closing upon Tad
+Butler's right shoulder, when all at once something happened.
+
+The cringing fat boy rose. The right hand that had been clinging to
+the cantle was launched out. His body, thrown forward at the same
+time, lent the blow added force.
+
+Chunky's fist came into violent contact with the Indian's jaw. Mr.
+Redman disappeared from the back of his pony so quickly that, for a
+second, Stacy could scarcely believe his eyes.
+
+"Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!" howled the fat boy. "Beat it for the tall grass,
+Tad!"
+
+A quick glance behind him, revealed the true state of affairs to Tad
+Butler. He dug in the spurs, clinging to the lariat for a few feet,
+then suddenly releasing it, as the pony leaped away under the stinging
+pressure of the spurs.
+
+"Duck! Duck! They're going to shoot!" shouted Tad.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HIT BY A DRY STORM
+
+
+"There it goes! Lower, Chunky!"
+
+A rifle had crashed somewhere to the left of them.
+
+Stacy's curiosity getting the better of him, he had twisted his body
+around, and was peering back; but he was bobbing up and down so fast
+that he found it difficult to fix his eyes on any one point long
+enough to distinguish what that object was.
+
+"Look! Look!" he cried, when in a long rise of the pony his eyes had
+caught something definite.
+
+The roped Indian was running for his pony, which he caught, leaping to
+its back and dashing away madly.
+
+"Hold up! Hold up! There's something doing," shouted the fat, boy.
+
+Tad swerved a little, turning to his left. Rifles were banging, and
+the dust was spurting up under the feet of the savage's racing pony.
+
+By this time, the second Indian had recovered from the blow that Stacy
+had landed on his jaw, and he too was in his saddle in a twinkling,
+tearing madly cross the plain.
+
+Stacy Brown uttered a series of wild whoops and yells. He knew their
+assailants were running and that some one was shooting at the Indians,
+but who it was the fat boy could only guess.
+
+Two ponies suddenly dashed out from the low-lying smoke cloud. One of
+their riders was swinging his sombrero and cheering; the other was
+firing his rifle after the fleeing savages.
+
+"Hooray, it's Santa Claus," howled Stacy, fairly beside himself with
+excitement. Even Tad caught something of his companion's spirit of
+enthusiasm. He swung his hand and started galloping toward the two
+horsemen.
+
+"Shoot 'em! Kill 'em!" howled Chunky.
+
+But Santa Claus merely shook his head, and after refilling the
+magazine of his rifle slipped it into the holster.
+
+"It would only make trouble and probably cause an uprising if I did.
+They know I could have winged them both had I wanted to," he grinned.
+"Well, you boys are a sight."
+
+"I--I lost my shirt," interjected Stacy.
+
+"And I suppose you fell in," chuckled Ned.
+
+"No; I fell off."
+
+"We're lucky to be alive," laughed Tad.
+
+"You are that. I see now that Professor Zepplin was right when he said
+you could take care of yourself. Never saw anything quite so slick as
+the way you roped that redskin--"
+
+"And--and I punched the other one," glowed Chunky.
+
+"Did you see us?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Yes, we saw the whole proceeding. But you were so mixed up that we
+couldn't fire without danger of hitting one of you boys. Wonder what
+those Apaches think struck them," laughed the guide. "How did you get
+through the fire?"
+
+Tad explained briefly; at the same time accounting for the loss of
+Stacy's shirt.
+
+"I bet that the fellow with the canary-wing face has a sore jaw,"
+bubbled Stacy.
+
+"No doubt of it, Master Stacy. I didn't suppose you had such a punch
+as that. You're a good Indian fighter."
+
+"Always was," answered the fat boy, swelling with importance.
+
+"Come, we'll have to hurry back It will be dark before we reach camp,
+as it is, and the Professor will be worrying about you."
+
+They turned about, and, heading across the burned area, started for
+camp. Fitful blazes were springing up here and there, but all danger
+had, by this time, passed, though the smoke still hung heavy and the
+odor of burned vegetation smote the nostrils unpleasantly.
+
+Stacy sniffed the air suspiciously.
+
+"Tastes like a drug store fire I smelled once in Chillicothe," he
+averred.
+
+"I haven't made up my mind, yet, how that fire started, Mr. Kringle,"
+wondered Tad.
+
+"I have," replied the guide tersely.
+
+"How?"
+
+"It was set afire!"
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By one of those savages, or by somebody who was with them. They must
+have been watching you all the time. Did you recognize either of them
+as the fellow you knocked down the other might?"
+
+"No; I don't think I would know the Indian. The light was too
+uncertain at the fire dance, and then again, all Indians look alike to
+me."
+
+"It was a narrow escape."
+
+"Do you think they'll come back again?" questioned Ned.
+
+"I doubt it. They won't if they recognized me. They know me. They've
+done business with me before."
+
+Professor Zepplin and Walter were overjoyed when at last the party
+rode into camp and they learned that both boys were safe. The lads
+were obliged to go all over their experiences again for the benefit of
+the Professor and Walter.
+
+"It's getting worse and worse," decided the Professor helplessly. "I
+don't know where all this is going to end. I thought when we got a new
+guide--but what's the use? Do you think we had better start to-night,
+Mr. Kringle?"
+
+"No. There is no necessity."
+
+"What am I going to do for a pony?" asked Chunky.
+
+"You can ride one of mine. I always take two when on a long journey,"
+replied the guide.
+
+Chunky's first act after reaching camp, was to provide himself with a
+shirt. After donning it, he announced that he had an appetite and
+wanted to know when they were going to have supper.
+
+"Why, you had supper hours ago," scoffed Ned. "Want another one
+already?"
+
+"That wasn't supper, that was four o'clock tea. Indian fighters must
+have real food."
+
+"Stop teasing. We'll give the 'ittle baby his milk," returned Ned.
+
+That night, Kris Kringle remained on guard himself. He would not trust
+the guardianship of the camp to any of the boys, for he fully expected
+that they would receive a visit from one or more of the Indians,
+though he did not tell the others so. But nothing occurred to disturb
+the camp, and the boys, despite their trying experiences, slept
+soundly, awakening in the morning fresh and active, ready and anxious
+for any further adventures.
+
+The party set out shortly after sunrise, and traveled all day across
+the uneven plains, across short mountain ranges, through deep gorges
+and rugged foothills.
+
+Crossing an open space the guide espied a bottle glistening in the
+sunlight.
+
+"There's a bottle," pointed the guide. "Want it?"
+
+Stacy glanced at it indifferently;
+
+"What do I want of a bottle?"
+
+"Then I'll take it," decided the guide, dismounting and stowing the
+abandoned piece of glass in his saddle bags.
+
+"Bottles are good for only two things."
+
+"And what are they, Master Stacy?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"To keep things in and to shoot at," replied the fat boy wisely.
+
+Everybody laughed at that.
+
+"I guess that embodies everything you can say about bottles," smiled
+the Professor. "Your logic, at times, young man, is unassailable."
+
+Chunky nodded. He had a faint idea of what Professor Zepplin meant.
+
+Late that afternoon the travelers came upon a shack in the foothills,
+where an old rancher, a hermit, lived when not tending his little
+flock of sheep, most of which, Kris Kringle said, the old man had
+stolen from droves that came up over the trail going north.
+
+He was an interesting old character, this hermit, and the boys decided
+that they would like to make camp and have him take supper with them.
+This the Professor and the guide readily agreed to, for everyone was
+hot and dusty and the bronchos were nervous and ill-natured.
+
+The boys found the old rancher talkative enough on all subjects save
+himself. When Chunky asked him where he came from, and what for, the
+old man's face flushed angrily.
+
+At the first opportunity the guide took the fat boy aside for some
+fatherly advice.
+
+"In this country it isn't good policy to be too curious about a man's
+family affairs. He's likely to resent it in a way you won't like. Most
+fellows out here have reasons for being out of the world, beyond
+what's apparent on the surface."
+
+Chunky heeded the advice and asked no more personal questions for the
+next hour, though he did forget himself before the evening was ended.
+
+"You seem to be having pretty dry weather down here," said the
+Professor, by way of starting the old man to talking.
+
+"Yep. Haven't had any rain in this belt fer the last two years."
+
+"Two years!" exclaimed the boys.
+
+"Yep. Had a few light dews, but that's all," replied the hermit.
+
+"Looks to me as if you were going to get some to-night," announced
+Tad.
+
+"Reckon not."
+
+"Then I'm no judge of weather."
+
+Even as Tad spoke there was a low muttering of thunder, and the far
+lightning flashed pale and green, and rose on the long horizon to the
+southwest.
+
+Kris Kringle heard the far away growl. Springing up, he began staking
+down the tents.
+
+"That's a good idea. We lost our whole outfit on our last trip. Think
+they'll stand a blow?"
+
+"I guess they will when I get through with them. Have we any more
+stakes in camp?"
+
+"There should be some in the kit."
+
+Tad searched until he found several more stakes, and with these and
+the emergency ropes, they made the tents secure.
+
+By the time they had done so, the heavens had grown black and
+menacing. They could see the storm sweeping down on them. It was a
+magnificent sight, and the lads were so lost in observing its grandeur
+that they forgot to feel any alarm.
+
+A cloud of dust accompanied the advance guard of the storm.
+
+"Reckon there ain't any rain in them clouds," commented the old man.
+"There's plenty of the other thing, though."
+
+"What's the other thing?" questioned Chunky.
+
+"Lightning."
+
+Even as he spoke a bolt descended right in the center of the camp,
+tearing a hole in the earth and hurling a cloud of dirt and dust many
+feet up into the air.
+
+The force of the explosion knocked some of the party flat.
+
+Chunky picked himself up and carefully brushed his clothes; then,
+solemnly walked out and sat down on the spot where the lightning had
+struck.
+
+"Here, here! What are you doing out there?" demanded the guide.
+
+"Sitting on the lightning."
+
+"You come in here! And quick, at that!"
+
+"Huh! Guess I know what I'm doing. Lightning never strikes twice in
+the same place. I'm--"
+
+By this time Kris Kringle had the fat boy by the collar, hustling him
+to the protection of one of the tents.
+
+No sooner had they reached it than a crash that seemed as if it had
+split the earth wide open descended upon them. Balls of fire shot off
+in every direction. One went right through the tent where they were
+huddled, hurling the Pony Rider Boys in a heap.
+
+They scrambled up calling to each other nervously.
+
+The shock had extinguished the lantern that hung in the tent. The
+guide relighted it, and, stepping outside to see what had happened,
+pointed to the place where Chunky had been sitting but a few minutes
+before.
+
+The bolt had struck in the identical spot where the previous one had
+landed.
+
+"Now, young man, there's an object lesson for you," Mr. Kringle said,
+with a grim smile.
+
+"And there's another!" replied Chunky, pointing to the outside of the
+tent.
+
+There lay the old rancher, whose absence they had not noted. He had
+been in the tent with them when they last saw him and how he had
+gotten out there none knew. The rancher had been stripped of every
+vestige of clothing by the freaky lightning.
+
+"He's dead," crooned Stacy solemnly.
+
+"Get water, quick! He's been struck by lightning!" commanded the
+guide, making systematic efforts to bring the old man back to
+consciousness.
+
+Stacy ran for the water-bags.
+
+"I am afraid it is useless, Mr. Kringle," warned, the Professor,
+failing to find a pulse. The boys were standing about fanning the
+victim, having one by one dumped the contents of their canteens in his
+face.
+
+Stacy returned with a water-bag after a little.
+
+"I--I--I've got an idea," he exploded, as with eyes wide open he
+attempted to tell them something.
+
+"Keep still. We've got something else to do besides listening to your
+foolishness," chided Ned.
+
+"Chunky, we're trying to save this man's life. Give me that bag,"
+commanded Tad.
+
+The two older men were working desperately on the patient. Stacy stood
+around, fidgeting a little, but making no further attempt to enlighten
+them as to what his new idea was.
+
+After a time the rancher began to show signs of recovering. He gasped
+a few times then opened his eyes.
+
+"What kicked me?" he asked, with a half-grin.
+
+They could all afford to laugh now, and they did. The rancher refused
+their offer of clothes, saying he had another suit in his shack.
+
+"That's twice the stuff has knocked me out. Next time it'll git me for
+keeps," he said.
+
+"Does it strike here very often?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Allus."
+
+"Then, there must be some mineral substance in the soil."
+
+"No, ain't nothing like that. Jest contrariness that's all. Hit my
+shack once, and 'cause 'twas raining, bored holes in the roof so the
+place got all wet inside."
+
+"But it isn't raining now. Doesn't it usually rain when you have a
+thunder storm here?" asked the Professor.
+
+"No. Ain't had no rain in nigh onto two year," the hermit reiterated.
+
+"You'd better go and put on some clothes," suggested Kris Kringle.
+
+"Guess that's right."
+
+The old man seemed to have forgotten his condition. The others had
+wrapped a blanket around him, which seemed to satisfy his demand for
+clothes. Gathering up the blanket he strolled leisurely toward his
+cabin, undisturbed by his recent experience.
+
+"Nothing like getting used to it," chuckled Stacy.
+
+"Hello, now we'll hear what your new idea is, Chunky?" jeered Ned.
+
+"Yes, what is it?" urged Tad.
+
+"Nothing much."
+
+"Never is," cut in Walter Perkins, a little maliciously.
+
+"I--I got an idea the ponies tried to kick holes in the lightning."
+
+Everybody laughed loudly. They could well afford to laugh, now that
+the danger had passed.
+
+"What makes you think that?" asked the guide, eyeing him sharply.
+
+"'Cause they're dead!"
+
+"What!" shouted the boys.
+
+All hands dashed from the tent, Stacy regarding them with soulful
+eyes, after which he surreptitiously slipped a biscuit into his pocket
+and strolled out after them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+CHUNKY'S NEW IDEA
+
+
+Three of the ponies, they found, had been knocked down and so severely
+shocked that they were only just beginning to regain consciousness.
+
+"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Ned, turning on Stacy savagely.
+
+"You wouldn't let me. Maybe next time I've got an idea, you'll stop
+and listen."
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore a broad grin.
+
+"Master Stacy is right. He tried hard enough to tell us," he said.
+
+Chunky was humming blithely as the party set out next morning. He was
+pretty well satisfied with himself, for had he not been through a
+prairie fire, knocked a savage Apache off his horse, saved himself and
+his companions, besides having just escaped from being struck by
+lightning? Stacy swelled out his chest and held his chin a little bit
+higher than usual.
+
+"Chunky's got a swelled head," said Ned, nodding in the direction of
+the fat boy.
+
+"Swelled chest, you mean," laughed Walter. "Nobody has a better right.
+Chunky isn't half as big a fool as he'd have everybody believe. When
+we think we are having lots of fun with him he's really having sport
+with us. And those Indians--say, Ned, do you think they will bother
+us any more?"
+
+"Ask Chunky," retorted Ned. "He's the oracle of the party."
+
+"I will," answered Walter, motioning for Stacy to join them, which the
+latter did leisurely. "We want to know if you think we've seen the
+last of the Apaches? Will they bother us any more?"
+
+The fat boy consulted the sky thoughtfully.
+
+"I think there's some of them around now," he replied.
+
+"What?"
+
+Stacy nodded wisely.
+
+"Santa Claus ought to have shot them."
+
+"Why, you cold-blooded savage!" scoffed Ned. "The idea!"
+
+"You'll see. I'd have done it, myself, if I'd had my gun," declared
+Stacy bravely.
+
+"Good thing for you that your gun was in camp, instead of in your
+holster."
+
+"Yes; I'd have lost the gun when the pony went down. Poor pony! Say,
+Walt," he murmured, leaning over toward his companion.
+
+"Well, out with it!"
+
+"This pony of Santa Claus's can jump further than a kangaroo."
+
+"Ever see a kangaroo jump?" sneered Ned.
+
+"No; but I've seen you try to. I'll show you, Walt, when we get a
+chance to go out and have a contest."
+
+"That would be good sport, wouldn't it, Ned?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"A jumping contest!"
+
+"If we didn't break our necks."
+
+"Can't break a Pony Rider Boy's neck. They're too tough," laughed
+Walter, to which sentiment, Stacy Brown agreed with a series of
+emphatic nods.
+
+"Say, Tad," called Walter, "what do you say to our jumping our ponies
+some time to-day?"
+
+Tad grinned appreciatively.
+
+"If the stock isn't too tired when we make camp, I think it would be
+great fun. We haven't had any real jumping contests in a long time."
+
+"Wish we had our stallions here, Tad."
+
+"They're better off at home, Chunky. Altogether too valuable horses
+for this kind of work. I'll speak to the guide."
+
+"Well, what is it, young man?" smiled Kris Kringle.
+
+"If you can find a level place for our camp we want to have a contest
+this afternoon. Professor, will you join us?"
+
+"What kind of a contest?"
+
+"Jumping."
+
+"No, thank you."
+
+"We will camp in the foothills of the Black range. You will find
+plenty of level ground there for your purpose," said the guide.
+
+In order that they might have more time for their games, an early halt
+was called. The first work was to pitch the camp, the ponies being
+allowed to graze and rest in the meantime, after which the lads
+started out on a broad, open plain for their sport.
+
+Their shouts of merriment drifted back to the camp where Kris Kringle
+and Professor Zepplin were setting things to rights and preparing an
+early supper, the sun still being some hours high.
+
+"That's a great bunch of boys, Professor."
+
+"Great for getting into difficulties."
+
+"And for getting out of them."
+
+"I'll put them against any other four lads in the world for hunting
+out trouble," laughed the Professor.
+
+The result of the afternoon's sport was a total of several spills and
+numerous black and blue spots on the bodies of the Pony Rider Boys.
+Stacy Brown on Kris Kringle's pony, carried off the honors, having
+taken a higher jump than did any of his companions. Then Stacy did it
+again, after the others had tried--and failed to equal the record.
+
+The games being finished, Tad and Walter rode off to get a closer view
+of some peculiar rock formations that they had discovered in the high
+distance, while Ned and Chunky started slowly for the camp.
+
+The table had been set out in front of the tents when the fat boy and
+his companion came in sight of the camp.
+
+"Whew! but I'm hungry!" announced Stacy Brown.
+
+"But you didn't think of it until you saw the table set, did you?"
+
+"It wasn't the table, it was the shaking up I got back there that made
+me feel full of emptiness."
+
+"Huh!"
+
+"I've got an idea, Ned."
+
+"For goodness' sake, keep it to yourself, then. When you have an idea
+it spells trouble for everybody else around you."
+
+"Bet you I can."
+
+"Can what?" snorted Ned.
+
+"Bet you I can jump the dinner table and you can't."
+
+"Bet you can't."
+
+"Bet I can, and without even knocking a fly off the milk pitcher."
+
+"Go on, you! You try it first, and, if you don't make it, you lose. I
+don't have to try it if I don't want to," agreed Ned, with rare
+prudence.
+
+Chunky was fairly hugging himself with glee, but he took good care
+that Ned Rector did not observe his satisfaction.
+
+"If you don't you're a tenderfoot," taunted Stacy.
+
+"I'll show you who's the tenderfoot. You go ahead and bolt the dinner,
+table and all, if you dare. Now, then!"
+
+Stacy gathered up his reins. There was mischief in his eyes, which
+were fixed on the table, neatly set for the evening meal.
+
+"You start right after me. They'll be surprised to see a procession of
+ponies going over the table, won't they?"
+
+"Somebody'll be surprised. May not be the Professor and Santa Claus,
+though," growled Ned.
+
+Stacy had his own ideas on this question, but he did not confide them
+to his companion.
+
+The fat boy clucked to his pony, and the little animal started off. As
+they moved along, Stacy used the persuasive spurs resulting in a
+sudden burst of speed.
+
+"Come on!" he shouted.
+
+He heard Ned's pony pursuing him.
+
+"Hi-yi-yi-y-e-o-w!" howled the shrill voice of the fat boy.
+
+Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle were sitting at opposite ends of
+the table, with elbows leaning on it, engaged in earnest conversation.
+There had been so much yelling out on the plain ever since the boys
+left camp that the older men gave no heed to this new shout--did not
+even turn their eyes in the direction whence Stacy Brown and his pony
+were sweeping down on them at break-neck speed.
+
+Suddenly the two men started back with a sudden exclamation, as a
+shadow fell athwart the table and a dark form hurled itself through
+the air, while a shrill, "w-h-o-o-p-e-e!" sounded right over their
+heads.
+
+The fat boy cleared the table without so much as disturbing the fly to
+which he had referred when making the arrangement.
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore an expansive grin as he discovered the cause
+of the interruption. But, Professor Zepplin's face reflected no such
+emotion. He was angry. He started to rise, when a second shadow fell
+across the table.
+
+Ned Rector, not to be outdone by his fat little friend, pursed his
+lips tightly, driving his broncho at the dinner table and pressing in
+the spurs so hard, that the pony grunted with anger.
+
+Up went the broncho in a graceful curving leap.
+
+But the pony or its rider had not calculated the distance properly.
+Both rear hoofs went through the table, whisking it off the ground
+from before the astonished eyes of Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle.
+
+Both men drew back so violently that they toppled over backwards.
+
+'Mid the crashing of dishes and the sound of breaking wood, the dinner
+table shot up into the air, while the pony ploughed the ground with
+its nose.
+
+Ned Rector struck the ground some distance farther on; he slid on his
+face for several feet skinning his nose, and filling mouth, eyes and
+nose with dirt.
+
+Then dishes and pieces of table began to rain down on them in a
+perfect shower. A can of condensed milk emptied itself on the head of
+Professor Zepplin, while a hot biscuit lodged inside the collar of
+Santa Claus's shirt.
+
+"Wow! Oh, wow!" howled the fat boy, falling off his pony in the excess
+of his merriment and rolling on the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+IN THE HOME OF THE CAVE DWELLERS
+
+
+Ned Rector sat up just in time to meet the wreck of the descending
+table. Down he went again with Stacy's howls ringing in his ears.
+
+A firm hand jerked Rector free of the debris as Kris Kringle laughing
+heartily hauled Ned to his feet. At the same moment Professor Zepplin
+had laid more violent hands on the fat boy, whom he shook until
+Stacy's howls lost much of their mirth. About this time Tad and Walter
+rode in, having hurried along upon hearing the disturbance in camp.
+
+"Stacy Brown, are you responsible for this?" demanded the Professor
+sternly.
+
+"I'm more to blame than he is," interposed Ned.
+
+"No, I--I had an idea," chuckled Stacy, threatening to break out into
+another howl of mirth.
+
+"Next time you have one, then, you will be good enough to let me know.
+We will tie you up until the impulse to make trouble has passed."
+
+Tad and Walter could not resist a shout of laughter. Kris Kringle was
+not slow to follow the example set by them, and all at once Professor
+Zepplin forgot his dignity, sitting right down amid the wreck and
+laughing immoderately.
+
+Ned washed his face, and when, upon facing them, he exhibited a peeled
+nose and a black eye, the merriment was renewed again.
+
+Supper was a success, in spite of the fact that many of their dishes
+were utterly ruined, as well as some of the provisions. But the lads
+gathered up the pieces and made the best of a bad job. Fortunately
+they carried another folding table that they had had made for their
+trip, and this was soon spread and a fresh meal prepared.
+
+"Well, have you two been getting into difficulties also?" questioned
+the Professor, after they sat down to supper.
+
+"No; we've been exploring, Walter and I," answered Tad.
+
+"Exploring?"
+
+"Yes. We discovered something that I should like to know more about."
+
+"What is that?" asked Kris Kringle, looking up interestedly.
+
+"We were over yonder, close to the mountains, which are straight up
+and down, and half way to the top, we saw three or four queerly-shaped
+rocks that looked like houses or huts. Did you ever see them, Mr.
+Kringle?"
+
+"No; but I think I know what you mean. They must be some of the cave
+dwellings of the ancient Pueblos, or perhaps as far back as the
+Toltecs. They built their homes in caves on the steep rocks for better
+protection against their enemies."
+
+"And nobody ever discovered these before?" questioned. Walter. "How
+queer!"
+
+"Perhaps these dwellings, if such they are, have been seen by many a
+traveler, none of whom had interest enough in the matter to
+investigate. Then again, they may have been fully explored. There's
+not much in this part of the country that prospectors have not looked
+over."
+
+"May we explore these caves, Professor?" asked Tad.
+
+"Please let us?" urged Walter.
+
+"I see no objection if Mr. Kringle will be responsible for you. I
+rather think I'll look into them myself. I'll confess the idea
+interests me. Are they easy to get at?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," answered Tad.
+
+"Santa Claus will show us the way," interrupted Stacy
+enthusiastically.
+
+He was frowned down by the Professor.
+
+"Why not start now?" urged Tad.
+
+The guide consulted the sun.
+
+"We might. It lacks all of three hours to dark."
+
+There was much enthusiasm in camp. The idea that they were to visit
+some unexplored caves, dwellings of an ancient people, filled the lads
+with pleasant expectancy.
+
+Before starting, Mr. Kringle sorted out some strong manila rope and
+several tent stakes all of which he did up into two bundles. Then he
+filled the magazine of his rifle, throwing this over his shoulder.
+
+"What's that for?" questioned Ned.
+
+"The gun?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Can't tell what we may run into in a cave, you know."
+
+After a final look at the camp all hands set out for the place
+indicated by Tad. It was only a short distance, so they decided to
+walk.
+
+Reaching the base of the mountain they gazed up.
+
+"Yes, those are cave dwellings," declared Kris Kringle. "And they are
+still closed. Probably they haven't been opened in two hundred years."
+
+"I'd hate to live there and have to go home in a dark night," mused
+Chunky.
+
+"Yes, how did they get to their houses?" wondered the other boys.
+
+"The question is, how are we going to get near enough to explore them?
+How shall we get up there, Mr. Guide?" asked the Professor.
+
+"We'll find a way. We shall have to climb the mountain, first."
+
+All hands began clambering up the rocks. To do so they were obliged to
+follow along the base of the mountain for some distance before they
+found a place that they could climb.
+
+Reaching the top, the guide examined their surroundings carefully.
+
+"See those little projections of rock slanting down toward the shelf?"
+he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, in the old days they probably felled a tree so it would fall on
+them. The occupants of the cave probably cut steps in the tree trunk
+over which to travel up and down. The tree has rotted away many years
+since."
+
+"And we can't get down, then?"
+
+"We'll find a way, Master Walter. I thought I should be able to make a
+rope ladder that would work, but I see it is not practicable."
+
+"How shall we do it?"
+
+"Try the old way, I guess, Master Tad."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"The tree."
+
+"But there are no trees near here?"
+
+"Yes, there are, a few rods back. We are all strong and I guess we
+shall be able to make a pretty fair pair of steps."
+
+Kris Kringle had brought an axe with him. With this he cut some long,
+straight poles which, he explained, were intended for pike poles such
+as woodsmen use to roll logs. This done, he began industriously
+chopping at the tree after deciding upon the exact position in which
+he desired it to fall.
+
+"It won't reach," declared Chunky, who, with hands in pockets, legs
+spread wide apart, stood looking up at the flaring top of the great
+tree.
+
+The guide stopped chopping long enough to squint at the fat boy.
+
+"It'll reach you all right, if you stay where you are," he said, then
+resumed his vigorous blows.
+
+Stacy promptly took the hint and moved a safe distance away.
+
+"Get from under!" shouted the guide finally. One more blow would send
+the tree crashing downward.
+
+All hands scrambled for safety. One powerful blow from the axe, and
+with a crashing and rending, the great tree began its descent. When it
+struck the onlookers fully expected to see it broken into many pieces,
+but the bushy top, hitting the rocks first, broke the blow, and the
+body of the tree settled down gently without even breaking its bark.
+
+"Fine! Hurrah!" shouted the boys.
+
+"It won't reach to the edge. Going to pull it over?" questioned Stacy.
+
+"Not exactly, but we're going to get it there. Perhaps we shall not
+have it in place in time to explore the caves to-night, but we shall
+be ready to do so early in the morning. It took our friends longer to
+do this job, two hundred years or more ago, than it will take us. We
+have better tools to work with."
+
+"And better bosses," suggested Stacy.
+
+Some little time was consumed in chopping the tree loose from its
+stump, after which the guide worked the pike poles under the trunk at
+intervals near the base. The others watched these operations with
+interest.
+
+"Now here is where you young gentlemen will have a chance to show how
+strong you are. Each one grab a pike pole," Kringle directed.
+
+"Shan't I go hold the top down?" asked Stacy.
+
+"You just grab a pike pole and get busy!" laughed Mr. Kringle.
+
+"Can't get out of work quite so easy as you thought," scoffed Ned.
+"This is where we make you earn your supper."
+
+"I don't have to earn it. Had it already."
+
+"There are other meals coming," smiled the Professor.
+
+"Now, heo--he!"
+
+All raised on the pike poles at the same time with the result that the
+tree was forced down the gentle incline several feet. This was
+repeated again and again, the boys pausing to cheer after every lift.
+
+The tree being now perilously near the edge of the cliff Kris Kringle
+called a halt. Next he fastened a rope around the top and another
+around the base, taking a turn around a rock with each. One boy was
+placed on each rope, the others at the pike poles, while the guide
+stood at the edge giving directions.
+
+The tree trunk gently slipped over under his guidance and a few
+minutes later rested on the projecting rocks, that were just high
+enough to hold it in place.
+
+"Wouldn't take much to send it over, but I guess it will be perfectly
+safe," he mused.
+
+"May we go down now?" cried the boys.
+
+"No; I'll make some steps first."
+
+He did so with the axe, chopping out scoop-shaped places for steps,
+until finally he had reached the rock in front of the cave dwellings.
+
+The tree lay at an easy slope, its bushy top partly resting on the
+ledge, the latter being some eight feet deep by ten feet wide.
+
+Running up the log Mr. Kringle made another rope fast at the top,
+throwing the free end over.
+
+"Hold on to the rope while you are going down and you'll be in no
+danger of falling," he warned.
+
+The boys scrambled down the tree like so many squirrels, the Professor
+following somewhat more cautiously.
+
+The explorers found themselves not more than twenty feet from the
+ground.
+
+"Not much of a door yard. Where's the garden?" wondered Stacy, looking
+about him curiously.
+
+The entrance to the cave dwelling was blocked by a huge boulder, that
+completely filled the opening. How it had been gotten there none could
+say. The only possible explanation was that the boulder had been found
+on the shelf and applied to the purpose of protecting the cave
+dwellers' home.
+
+"Now we're here, we can't get in," grumbled Ned.
+
+"Nothing is impossible," answered Kris Kringle.
+
+"Except one thing."
+
+"What's that, Master Ned?"
+
+"To hammer the least little bit of sense into the head of my friend,
+Chunky Brown."
+
+"You don't have to, that's why," retorted Stacy quickly. "It has all
+the sense it'll hold, now."
+
+"I guess that will be about all for you, Ned," laughed Walter. "At
+least, Chunky didn't foul the dinner table when he jumped it."
+
+The guide, in the meantime, was experimenting with the boulder,
+inserting a pike pole here and there in an effort to move the big
+stone. It remained in place as solidly as if it had grown there.
+
+"There's some trick about the thing, I know, but what it is gets me.
+Better stand back, all of you, in case it comes out all of a sudden,"
+Mr. Kringle warned them.
+
+All at once the boulder did come out, and it kept on coming.
+
+"Look out!" bellowed the guide.
+
+"Low bridge!" howled Stacy, hopping to one side and crouching against
+the rocks.
+
+The guide had sprung nimbly to one side as well. The big rock had
+popped out like a pea from a pod. Instead of stopping, however, it
+continued to roll on toward the edge.
+
+"Hug the rocks! She's going down!" shouted the guide.
+
+Go down it did, with a crash that seemed to shake the mountain.
+Rolling to the edge of the shelf, it had toppled over, taking a large
+strip of shelving rock with it.
+
+"Wow!" howled Chunky;
+
+The other boys uttered no sound, though their faces were a little more
+pale than usual.
+
+Kris Kringle stepped to the edge, peering over.
+
+"No one will get that up here again, right away," he said.
+
+"The cave, the cave!" shouted Walter.
+
+Everyone turned, gazing half in awe at the dark opening that the
+removal of the stone had revealed--an opening that had been closed
+for probably more than two centuries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+FACING THE ENEMY'S GUNS
+
+
+"Do we go in?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Wait, I'll get some light inside first," answered the prudent guide.
+"Can't tell whether we shall want to go in or not."
+
+He built up a small fire within, then called to the others that they
+might enter. They crowded in hastily, finding themselves in a fairly
+large chamber, at the far end of which was a sort of natural alcove in
+the rocks.
+
+The remnants of a fire still lay at one side, where the last meal of
+the ancient dweller had probably been cooked. Several crude looking
+utensils lay about, together with a number of pieces of ancient
+pottery.
+
+"This is, indeed, a rare find!" exclaimed the Professor, carrying the
+precious jars out into the light for closer examination.
+
+Chunky, about that time, pounced upon an object which proved to be a
+copper hatchet.
+
+"Hurray for George Washington!" he shouted, brandishing the crude
+tool. "The man who never told--"
+
+"We've heard that before," objected Ned. "Give us something new,
+Chunky, if you've got to talk."
+
+The Professor came in, searching for other curios just as Stacy went
+out to examine his "little axe," as he was pleased to call it. He
+tried the edge of it on the ledge to find out if the stone would dull
+it, but it did not.
+
+"I'll use that to cut nails and wire with when I get back home,"
+decided the boy. "Guess I'll chop my name in the side of the mountain
+here." Stacy proceeded to do so, the others being too much engrossed
+in their explorations to know or care what he was about. He succeeded
+very well, both in making letters on the wall and in putting several
+nicks in the edge of his new-found hatchet.
+
+He was thus engaged when all at once something struck the axe hurling
+it from his hand. At the same instant a rifle crashed off somewhere
+below and to the southeast of him.
+
+"Ouch!" exclaimed the fat boy holding his hand. "Wonder who did that?"
+His mind had not coupled the shot with the blow on the hatchet.
+
+Bang!
+
+A bullet flattened itself close to his head, against the rock.
+
+With a howl, the lad threw himself down on the ledge.
+
+At that instant Kris Kringle sprang to the opening of the cave.
+
+"What does this mean?" he snapped.
+
+"I don't know. Somebody knocked the axe out of my hand then shot at
+me."
+
+The guide discovered the trouble right there. A bullet snipped his hat
+from his head; and, striking the ceiling of the cave-home, dropped to
+the floor with a dull clatter.
+
+Kris Kringle ducked with amazing quickness. Crawling back into the
+cave, he reached for his own rifle and then sought the opening, taking
+good care not to expose himself to the fire of the unseen enemy.
+
+Stacy, on his part, had lost no time in getting to a place of safety
+inside, though he was prudent enough to crawl instead of getting up
+and walking in.
+
+"What does this mean? It can't be possible that anyone is deliberately
+shooting at us?" questioned Professor Zepplin in undisguised
+amazement.
+
+"If you doubt it step outside," suggested Kris Kringle. "Master Stacy
+and myself know what they tried to do, don't we, lad?"
+
+"We do."
+
+The fat boy again swelled with importance.
+
+"Look out you don't swell up so big you'll break your harness," warned
+Ned.
+
+"Better break it than have it shot off," mumbled Stacy.
+
+"Who can it be?"
+
+"I can't say, Professor."
+
+"It's our friends from the fire dance," was Tad's expressed
+conviction.
+
+"Told you they'd be here," nodded Chunky. "Why don't you shoot at
+them?"
+
+"Going to, in a minute. Got to find out where they are first."
+
+Now the lads were excited in earnest. Some one was shooting at them,
+and the guide was going to fire back. This was more than they had
+expected when they visited the home of the cave-dweller.
+
+"Let me take a crack at 'em," begged Chunky. "I owe 'em one."
+
+"Master Stacy, you will do nothing of the sort," reproved the
+Professor sternly. "The idea!"
+
+"No; if there's any shooting to be done I'll do it," announced Kris
+Kringle.
+
+"And Santa Claus isn't shooting with any toy gun, this time," chuckled
+Chunky.
+
+"Can you see the camp, to know if anyone is there?"
+
+"Yes, but only part of it, Professor. I wish you would all get over
+into the right hand corner there and lie flat on the floor. I'm going
+to try to draw their fire so that I can locate them. Can't afford to
+waste ammunition until we are reasonably sure where our mark is."
+
+The others quickly got into the position indicated.
+
+Placing his hat on one of the pike poles, Kringle slowly pushed it
+outside.
+
+There was no result, The ruse failed to draw the enemy's fire.
+
+"Oh, they've gone. We're a lot of babies," jeered Ned, jumping up and
+starting for the opening.
+
+Kris Kringle gave him a push with the butt of the rifle.
+
+"Want, to get shot full of holes? Wait! I'll show you."
+
+The guide sprang up, showing himself out on the ledge for one brief
+instant then throwing himself flat.
+
+A sharp "ping" against the rocks, followed by a heavy report, told the
+story. The guide had been not a second too soon in getting out of
+harm's way, for the bullet would have gone right through him had he
+remained standing.
+
+Quick as a flash Kringle's rifle leaped to his shoulder, and he fired.
+He had taken quick aim at a puff of smoke off toward the camp.
+
+Not content with one shot he raked the bushes all about where the puff
+of smoke had been seen, emptying the magazine of the rifle in a few
+seconds.
+
+Stacy Brown was fairly dancing with glee.
+
+"Did you hit anything?" asked the boys breathlessly.
+
+"Of course, I hit something; but whether I winged an Indian or not, I
+don't know. If I did, he probably is not seriously wounded. You'll
+hear a redskin yell when he's hit bad."
+
+"That one I punched didn't. He was hit hard," volunteered Stacy.
+
+"He didn't have time," grinned Tad. "You were too quick for him."
+
+"Look out! There comes a volley!" warned Mr. Kringle.
+
+The boys, led by the Professor tumbled into the corner in a heap,
+while the lead pattered in through the opening, rattling with great
+force like a handful of pebbles.
+
+"They're getting in a hurry," averred the Professor.
+
+"It's growing dark. They want to finish us before then, so we can't
+play any tricks on them after that. But, if they only knew it, and
+they probably do, they've got us beautifully trapped. One man below
+and another at the other end of our tree would be able to keep us here
+till the springs run dry. If there's only two of them there, as I
+suspect is the case, they may not want to separate. We'll see, the
+minute it gets dark enough so that we can move about without being
+observed."
+
+Some of the sage brush that Kris Kringle had brought down to light up
+the cave lay outside on the ledge. Using one of the poles, he
+cautiously raked the stuff inside, heaping it up not far from the
+entrance.
+
+"What you doing that for?" questioned Stacy, unable to conceal his
+curiosity.
+
+"You'll see, by-and-by, when we get ready to do something else. You
+don't think I'm going to stay here all night, do you?"
+
+There was no further firing on either side, though Mr. Kringle showed
+himself boldly several times.
+
+Finally Tad tried it, and was greeted with a shot the instant he
+appeared in the opening.
+
+"Must be me they're after," he suggested, with a forced grin, falling
+flat on the ledge, and wriggling back into the cave.
+
+The twilight was upon them now. The guide had been able to see the
+flash of the rifle below him, and had taken a quick shot at it when
+the enemy attempted to wing Tad Butler. Kringle had no means of
+knowing whether his shot had been effective or not.
+
+"I'm going to try something else in a few minutes, now," the guide
+told the Professor and the boys, "and I hope you all will do just as I
+tell you."
+
+"You may depend upon our doing exactly that," answered the Professor.
+
+"I am going to crawl out of here. The rest of you remain here until I
+call to you to come out, no matter if it is until morning. After I
+have been gone about ten minutes, light a match and toss it into the
+heap of sage there, but watch out that you don't get into the light.
+Throw the match. You're liable to be shot if you show yourselves."
+
+"Why should we make a fire and thus make targets of ourselves?"
+protested Ned.
+
+"That is to cover Mr. Kringle's retreat," Tad informed them.
+
+"Exactly. Master Tad, you may come along with me if you wish."
+
+Tad jumped at the offer.
+
+"But not a sound. Ask me no questions. Follow a rod or so behind me,
+and walk low down all the time. If you make a mistake it may result
+seriously for you and your friends. And, another thing."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Should there be any shooting, throw yourself on the ground. You will
+not be as likely to be hit there."
+
+"I'll obey orders, sir."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"When do we start?"
+
+"I guess we can do so now, as safely as at any time. The rascals will
+not be likely to be on the mountain just yet, because it is not dark
+enough. Yes; we'll go now."
+
+Tad waited until Kris Kringle had crawled from the cave, then lay down
+on his stomach and wriggled out on the ledge.
+
+There were no signs of the enemy and the camp-fire of the Pony Rider
+Boys glowed dimly down below. Tad, peering off into the gloom, for the
+moon had not yet risen, thought he saw a figure flit by the fire. He
+could not be sure, however. He wished he might tell the guide of his
+fancied discovery; but, remembering the injunction for absolute
+silence, he said nothing.
+
+By this time, Tad's arms were about the log. From the slight vibration
+he knew that Kris Kringle was somewhere between himself and the top,
+yet not a sound did the guide make. Tad made no more, and they would
+have been keen ears, indeed, that could have detected our friends'
+presence by sound alone.
+
+When the lad finally reached the top a hand was laid on his shoulder.
+The touch gave him a violent start in spite of his steady nerves.
+
+"You're all right," whispered the voice of Kris Kringle. "You'd make a
+good Indian. I want to explain something that I didn't wish the others
+to hear."
+
+"Yes?" whispered Tad.
+
+"I have only one shell left in my rifle. That's why I wanted you to go
+along. If, by any chance, the rascals should get me, you lie low.
+They'll make for the cave, as they know, by this time, that there is
+only one rifle in the party. The minute they do, should such an
+emergency arise, slide for the camp and get your gun. You'll know what
+to do with it. It'll be a case of saving the lives of your companions
+if it comes to that."
+
+"I understand," answered Tad bravely; and without a quaver in his
+voice.
+
+"Mind you, I don't think for a minute that it will happen. I can
+handle these fellows if I get the lay of the land. Keep close enough
+to hear me."
+
+"That's not so easy."
+
+"No; but you'll know. When I stop you do the same."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+OUTWITTING THE REDSKINS
+
+
+Kris Kringle moved away without another word. His abrupt departure was
+the signal for the Pony Rider boy to start, which he did instantly.
+
+In a few minutes Tad was skulking along the top of the mountain, when
+he ran into the guide again.
+
+Just then the report of a rifle sounded down below them.
+
+"Are they shooting at us?" whispered Tad.
+
+"No; the boys have lighted the fire in the cave. Our friends down
+below took a pot shot at the blaze. Hope they didn't hit anybody."
+
+"Chunky would be the only one to get in the way, and I imagine the
+others would hold him back."
+
+"Come this way; we'll go down by a different trail. The redskins are
+watching the fire in the cave, but they may be keeping an eye on the
+trail at the same time."
+
+Silently the man and the boy took their way along the rough, uneven
+path, slowly working down into the valley. They soon reached this, for
+the range was low there.
+
+Reaching the foothills, the two scouts once more fell into single
+file, Tad Butler to the rear. He knew that the guide's rifle ahead of
+him was ready for instant use, and at any second now Tad expected to
+see the flash of a gun.
+
+The lad was not afraid, but he was all a-quiver with excitement. This
+stalking an enemy in the dark, not knowing at what minute that enemy
+might make the attack, was not the same as a stand-up fight in broad
+daylight. Tad wondered why the guide had not permitted the rest of the
+party to escape while they had the opportunity. He did not know that
+Kris Kringle fully expected an ambush, nor that two would stand a
+better chance to get through and out-wit the savages than would half a
+dozen of them. The pair had approached nearly to the camp, for which
+the guide was heading, when suddenly a hand was laid on the boy's arm
+in a firm grip. Tad knew the guide had seen or heard something.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"There!"
+
+In the faint light of the camp-fire the lad, gazing where Kris Kringle
+had pointed, was astonished to see a figure seated at their table.
+From his motions it was evident that the intruder was stowing away the
+stolen fool at a great rate.
+
+"Is that one of them?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He'll have indigestion, the way he's eating. Hope he doesn't swallow
+the dishes, too."
+
+"I'm going to find the other one. You crawl as close to the camp as
+you can with safety. If you hear a disturbance, dive for the tents the
+instant that fellow starts. He'll move if he hears any noise. Get a
+gun and hurry to me, but be quiet about it."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Remember your instructions. I may be able to handle both of them, but
+if I don't get the missing one at the first crack I shan't be able to
+take care of them both. You'll have to help me. Got the nerve?"
+
+"I'm not afraid," whispered the boy steadily. "And I've got some
+muscle as well."
+
+"That's evident. I'm off now."
+
+Tad was left alone. This time he could feel the guide's movements, as
+the latter slipped away on the soft earth. But in a moment all sound
+was lost.
+
+"I think I'll crawl up nearer, so as to be handy if anything occurs,"
+decided the lad, creeping along on all fours. He could not see the
+light in the camp now, but he reasoned that the man at the table was
+sitting with his back to it, as near as Tad could judge of direction
+in the dark. The Indian seemed not to fear a surprise.
+
+"That's what comes from overconfidence," grinned the lad.
+
+"I wish I had something to defend myself with," he added after a
+pause.
+
+Tad had no sooner expressed his wish, than his fingers closed over
+some object on the ground. He grasped it with about the same
+hopefulness that a dying man will grasp at a straw.
+
+What he had found was a heavy tent stake, one that Kris Kringle had
+dropped from his bundle on the way to the cliff dweller's home.
+
+The lad breathed a prayer of thankfulness and crept on with renewed
+courage.
+
+He proceeded as far as he dared; then, lay still, listening for the
+noise of the expected conflict between the guide and the other red
+man.
+
+It came. The sound was like that of a body falling heavily.
+
+Once more the Indian at the table turned his head, listening
+inquiringly. He made a half motion to rise, glanced at the table, then
+sat down again and began to eat.
+
+"His appetite has overcome his judgment," grinned Tad. The lad could
+hear the faint sound of conflict somewhere to the rear of him. He was
+getting uneasy and began to fidget.
+
+All at once the red man sprang up, starting on a run, trailing Stacy's
+rifle behind him. He was headed directly for the place where Tad lay
+flattened on the ground, though the lad felt sure his enemy did not
+see him.
+
+But when the Indian suddenly sprang up into the air to avoid stepping
+on the object that lay there, Tad knew that further secrecy was
+useless. The redskin had jumped right over him, dropping Chunky's
+rifle as he leaped. The gun fell on the Pony Rider boy and for a
+second hindered his movements.
+
+But Tad was up like a flash, while the Indian whirled no less quickly,
+knife unsheathed, ready for battle.
+
+This was where Tad's tent stake came in handy. Without it he would
+have been in a much more serious fix. It was bad enough as it was.
+
+Without an instant's hesitation the lad brought the stake down on the
+wrist of the hand that held the knife. The knife fell to the ground,
+while the Indian, with a half-suppressed howl, sprang at the slender
+lad. Though the fellow's wrist was well-nigh useless at that moment,
+he was as full of fight as ever.
+
+Tad stepped nimbly aside and tried to trip his adversary, but the
+Indian was too sharp to be caught that way.
+
+"If he ever gets those arms around me I'm a goner," thought Tad,
+taking mental measure of his antagonist.
+
+Suddenly the Indian swooped down, making a grab for the rifle that he
+had dropped.
+
+As the redskin stooped, Tad hit him a wallop on the head with the tent
+stake. It must have made the savage see a shower of stars.
+
+At least, it staggered him so he was glad to let the weapon remain
+where it was. For a few seconds the air was full of flying legs and
+arms, during which the boy landed three times on the red man, being
+himself unhurt.
+
+Then the Indian succeeded in rushing into a clinch, and Tad found
+himself gripped in those arms of steel. Wriggle and twist as he would
+he could not free himself from their embrace. His adversary, on the
+other hand, found himself fully occupied in holding on to his slippery
+young antagonist, giving him neither time nor opportunity effectually
+to dispose of the slender lad.
+
+Tad was unusually muscular for his years, to which was added no little
+skill as wrestler. The Indian soon discovered both these qualities.
+And, at about that time, the lad was resorting to every trick he knew
+to place the Indian in a position where he could be thrown.
+
+The moment came with disconcerting suddenness, and Mr. Redman uttered
+a loud grunt as he landed on the ground, flat on his back. With a
+spring he lifted himself up, and the next instant he had thrown the
+slight figure of the Pony Rider Boy so heavily that everything about
+Tad grew black. He felt himself going. Then all at once he lost
+consciousness.
+
+When finally he awakened, Tad found a figure still bending over him.
+
+Quick as a flash the boy's arms went up, encircling the neck of the
+man kneeling by him. The next instant the fellow was on his back, with
+Tad sitting on his chest.
+
+"Here, here! What's the matter with you?" gasped a muffled voice,
+which Tad instantly recognized.
+
+"Kris Kringle!" he gasped.
+
+"Yes; and you nearly knocked the breath out of me," grinned the guide,
+struggling to his feet. "Well, you certainly are a whirlwind."
+
+"I--I thought you were the Indian," mattered Tad in a sheepish tone.
+
+"If it had been, there would have been no need for my interference."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Over there, tied up. Both of them are. We'll decide what to do with
+them when we get the party together."
+
+"Tell me what happened," begged Tad.
+
+The other fellow was so busy watching the cave that he forgot to keep
+his ears open. I was able to approach him without being detected. When
+I got near enough I laid the butt of my rifle over his head. No, I
+didn't hurt him much. Just made him curl up on the ground long enough
+to enable me to tie his hands and feet.
+
+"About that time I caught the sound of something going on over here. I
+made a run, suspecting that you were mixing it up with the other
+redskin. Guess I was just in time, too, for he had you down and was
+reaching for something--"
+
+"His knife," nodded Tad. "It's somewhere around here now."
+
+"Well, I gave him the same medicine that I had given the other. Now
+we'd better go and call the others."
+
+"Thank you. I'd have been in a bad fix, if you hadn't come as you
+did."
+
+"So might I, had you not stopped the second one. We're quits then,"
+said the guide, extending his hand, which Tad grasped warmly.
+
+"I'll call the others, if you wish."
+
+"Yes."
+
+Tad ran over to the base of the cliff, and shouted loudly for his
+companions. In half an hour the party had gathered about the camp
+fire, engaged in an animated discussion over the stirring experiences
+of the evening.
+
+It was decided that the Indians should be placed on their ponies, to
+which they were to be tied, with hands free and provisions enough to
+last them until they reached their reservation in the northern part of
+the state.
+
+The guide restored their rifles to them after first taking their
+ammunition and transferring it to his own kit.
+
+"I've wasted nearly that much on you," he said. "And, if ever you ride
+across my trail again, I'll use your own lead on you in a way that
+will stop you. You won't need bullets like these in the Happy Hunting
+Grounds, where you'll be going. Now, git!"
+
+And they did. The redskins rode as if a ghost were pursuing them.
+
+"That's the last, we shall see of those gentlemen," laughed Kris
+Kringle. "To-morrow morning we shall be on our way in peace."
+
+But the trail of the Pony Rider Boys was not to be all peace. Before
+them--ere they reached the end of the Silver Trail--they were to
+find other thrilling experiences awaiting them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+TILTING FOR THE SILVER SPURS
+
+
+Their journey led the young horsemen across the plains, over low-lying
+ranges, across broad, barren table-lands and down through the bottom
+lands until the wide sweep of the Rio Grande River at last lay before
+them.
+
+After the weeks of arid landscape the sight of water, and so much of
+it, brought a loud cheer from the Pony Rider Boys. The next thing was
+to find a fording place. This they did late in the afternoon of the
+same day, and their further journey took them to the little desert
+town of Puraje.
+
+They camped on the outskirts of the village.
+
+"Here's where we get a real bath. Who's going in swimming with me?"
+asked Tad.
+
+"I am," shouted all the boys at once.
+
+The Professor and Kris Kringle concluded that they, too, would take a
+dip, and a merry hour was spent in a protected cove of the big river,
+where the boys proved themselves as much at home as they were in the
+saddle.
+
+In the evening, they purchased such supplies as the town afforded. The
+night passed with-out disturbance, the boys taking up their journey
+next morning before the sleepy town had awakened.
+
+It was a week later, when, tired and dusty, the outfit pulled up at La
+Luz, a quaint hamlet nestling in the foothills of the Sacramento
+Mountains. The place they found to be largely Mexican, and it was
+almost as if the visitors had slipped over the border to find
+themselves in Mexico itself.
+
+Decorations were in evidence on all sides; bright-colored mantillas,
+Indian blankets and flags were everywhere.
+
+"Hello, I guess something is going on here," laughed Tad.
+
+"We are in time, whatever it is," nodded the guide. "Probably it's a
+feast of some kind. You will be interested in it, if that is what it
+is."
+
+The feast, they learned, was to be celebrated on the morrow with
+games, feats of strength and horsemanship.
+
+"Do you think they will let us take part?" asked Tad, as the party
+made camp in the yard of a little adobe church, where they had
+obtained permission to camp.
+
+"I'll see about it," answered the guide. "There may be reasons why it
+would not be best to do so."
+
+"Maybe I can win another rifle," suggested Chunky.
+
+"These people don't give away rifles. They're too--too--what do you
+call it?--too artistic. That's it."
+
+The camp being on the main street of the village, attracted no little
+attention. After sundown, crowds of gayly bedecked young people
+strolled up and stood about the church yard, watching the American
+boys pitching their tents and preparing for their stay over night.
+
+The villagers were especially interested in watching the boys get
+their supper, which was served up steaming hot within fifteen minutes
+after preparations had begun. Chunky had bought several pies at the
+store, which, with a pound of cheese brought in by Ned, made a
+pleasant change in the daily routine.
+
+Chunky started in on the pie.
+
+Ned calmly reached over and took it away from him; then the supper
+went along until it came time for the dessert, when Chunky fixed his
+eyes on the cheese suspiciously.
+
+"See anything wrong with that cheese?" demanded Ned.
+
+"No, but I've got an idea."
+
+"Out with it! You won't rest easy until you do. What's your idea?"
+
+"I was thinking, if I had a camera, I could make a motion picture of
+that cheese. I heard of a fellow once--"
+
+"That will do, Master Stacy," warned Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Can't I talk?"
+
+"Along proper lines--yes."
+
+"Cheese is proper, isn't it?"
+
+"Depends upon how old it is," chuckled Tad.
+
+"You needn't make fun of my cheese. Here give it to me; I'll eat it."
+
+"You're welcome to it, Ned," laughed the boys.
+
+The fun went on, much to the amusement of the villagers, who remained
+near by until the evening was well along and the lads began preparing
+for bed. Next morning the visitors began coming in to town early.
+There were men from the ranches, Mexican ranch-hands arrayed in bright
+colors and displaying expensive saddle trimmings. There were others
+from the wild places on the desert, far beyond the water limits, whose
+means of livelihood were known only to themselves.
+
+It was a strange company, and one that appealed considerably to the
+curiosity of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+The early part of the day was given over to racing, roping, gambling
+and other sports in which the lads were content to take no part. But
+there was an event scheduled for the afternoon that interested Tad
+more than all the rest. That was a tilting bout, open to all comers. A
+tilting arch had been erected in the middle of the main street, and
+had been decorated with flags and greens.
+
+The tilting ring, suspended from the top of the arch, was not more
+than an inch in diameter. The horseman who could impale it on his
+tilting peg and carry the ring away with him the greatest, number of
+times, would be declared the winner. Each one was to be given five
+chances.
+
+The prize, a pair of silver spurs, was to be presented by the belle of
+the town, a dark-eyed seņorita.
+
+The guide had entered Tad in this contest; but, as the lad glanced up
+at the ring only an inch in diameter, he grew rather dubious. He never
+had seen any tilting, and did not even know how the sport was
+conducted.
+
+Kris Kringle gave the lad some instructions about the method employed
+by the tilters, and Tad decided to enter the contest.
+
+Only ten horsemen entered, most of these being either Mexicans or
+halfbreeds.
+
+The first trial over, five of the contestants had succeeded in
+carrying away the ring.
+
+Tad had waited until nearly the last in order to get all the
+information possible as to the way the rest of the contestants played
+the game. A pole had been loaned to him, or rather a "peg," they
+called it, eight feet long, tapered so as to allow it to go through
+the brass ring for fully two feet of its length.
+
+The Pony Rider boy took his place in the middle of the street, and
+without the least hesitancy, galloped down toward the ring, which,
+indeed, he could not even see. When within a few feet of the arch he
+caught the sparkle of the ring.
+
+His lance came up, and putting spurs to his broncho, he shot under the
+arch, driving the point of the peg full at the slender circle. The
+point struck the edge sending the ring swaying like the pendulum of a
+clock.
+
+A howl greeted his achievement. Tad said nothing, but riding slowly
+back, awaited his next trial.
+
+The rule was that when one of the contestants made a strike, he was to
+continue until he failed. He would be allowed to run out five points
+in succession if he could.
+
+"Rest the peg against your side, and lightly," advised a man, as Tad
+turned into the street for another try. The man was past middle age,
+and, though dressed in the garb of a man of the plains, Tad decided at
+once that he was not of the same type as most of the motley mob by
+which he was surrounded.
+
+The lad nodded his understanding.
+
+With a sharp little cry of warning, the boy put spurs to his pony. He
+fairly flew down the course. No such speed had been seen there that
+day. The northern bronchos that the boys were riding were built for
+faster work and possessed more spirit than their brothers of the
+desert.
+
+As he neared the arch, this time, the lad half rose in his stirrups.
+He knew where to look for the ring now. Leaning slightly forward he
+let the point of the peg tilt ever so little. It went through the
+ring, tearing it from its slender fastening and carrying it away.
+
+Loud shouts of approval greeted his achievement.
+
+Once more he raced down the lane, this time at so fast a clip that the
+faces of the spectators who lined the course were a mere blur in his
+eyes.
+
+He felt the slight jar and heard the click as the ring slipped over
+the tilting peg.
+
+"Two," announced the scorer.
+
+He missed the next one. Then the others took their turn. Only one of
+these succeeded in scoring. He was one of the Mexicans who made such a
+brave show of color in raiment and saddle cloth.
+
+"That gives the seņor and the boy three apiece. Each has one turn
+left. The others will fall out. If neither scores in his turn, both
+will be ruled out and the others will compete for the prize,"
+announced the scorer.
+
+The Mexican smiled a supercilious smile, as much as to say, "The idea
+of a long-legged, freckle-faced boy defeating me!" The Mexican was an
+expert at the game of tilting as it was practised on the desert.
+
+The man took the first turn. He sat quietly on his pony a moment
+before starting, placing the lance at just the proper angle--then
+galloped at the mark. He, too, rose in his stirrups. The spectators
+were silent.
+
+The ring just missed being impaled on the tilting peg, slipping along
+the pole half way then bounding up into the air.
+
+The spectators groaned. The Mexican had lost.
+
+Now it was Tad's turn.
+
+He rode as if it were an everyday occurrence with him to tilt, only he
+went at it with a rash that fairly took their breath away.
+
+Just as he was about to drive at the ring, some one uttered a wild
+yell and a sombrero hurled from the crowd, struck Tad fairly across
+the eyes.
+
+Of course he lost, and, for a moment, he could not see a thing. He
+pulled his pony to a quick stop and sat rubbing and blinking his
+smarting eyes.
+
+A howl of disapproval went up from the spectators. None seemed to know
+whether the act had been inspired by enthusiasm or malice. Tad was
+convinced that it was the latter. His face was flushed, but the lad
+made no comment.
+
+"You are entitled to another tilt," called the scorer.
+
+To this the Mexican objected loudly.
+
+"Under the circumstances, as my opponent objects, and as we all wish
+to prevent hard feelings, why not give him a chance as well? If he
+wins I shall be satisfied."
+
+A shout of approval greeted Tad's suggestion. This was the real
+sportsman-like spirit, and it appealed to them.
+
+The proposition was agreed to. But again the Mexican lost.
+
+"If the young man is interfered with this time, I shall award the
+prize to him and end the tournament," warned the scorer.
+
+Though Tad's eyes were smarting from the blow of the sombrero, he
+allowed the eyelids to droop well over them, thus protecting them from
+the dust and at the same time giving him a clearer vision.
+
+On his next turn, Tad tore down the narrow lane; he shot between the
+posts like an arrow, and the tilting peg was driven far into the
+narrow hoop, wedging the ring on so firmly that it afterwards required
+force to loosen and remove it.
+
+Without halting his pony, Tad rode on, out a circle and came back at a
+lively gallop, pulling up before the stand of dry goods boxes, where
+the young woman who was to award the prize stood swinging her
+handkerchief, while the spectators set up a deafening roar of
+applause.
+
+Tad was holding the tilting peg aloft, displaying the ring wedged on
+it. He made the young woman a sweeping bow, his sombrero almost
+touching the ground as he did so.
+
+Another shout went up when the handsome spurs were handed to him,
+which the enthusiastic young woman first wrapped in her own
+handkerchief before passing the prize over to him. And amid the din,
+Tad heard the familiar "Oh, Wow! Wow!" in the shrill voice of Stacy
+Brown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE FAT BOY'S DISCOVERY
+
+
+"I saw him! I saw him, Tad!"
+
+"Saw who, Chunky?"
+
+"I tell you, I did. Don't you s'pose I know what my eyes tell me in
+confidence. Don't you to go to contradicting to me."
+
+Stacy had fairly overwhelmed Tad Butler with the importance of his
+discovery; but, thus far, Tad had not the least idea what it was all
+about.
+
+"When you get quieted down perhaps you'll be good enough to tell me
+who it is you saw?"
+
+"The man, the man!"
+
+"Humph! That's about as clear as the water in an alkali sink. What
+man?"
+
+"The one we saw on the train. Don't you know?"
+
+Tad thought a moment.
+
+"You mean the one we heard talking just before we got to Bluewater?"
+Butler had entirely forgotten the incident.
+
+"Yes; that's him! That's him," exploded Stacy.
+
+"You say that fellow--Lasar, that's his name--is he here!"
+
+"Uh-huh."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"He got off the stage down by the postoffice, just when I was coming
+up here."
+
+"Was he alone?"
+
+"The other fellow wasn't with him, if that's what you mean?"
+
+"Yes." Tad went over in his mind the conversation the man Lasar had
+held with his companion, in which the pair were plotting against some
+one by the name of Marquand.
+
+"Oh, well, Chunky, it's none of our concern. I think we must have
+magnified the incident. I--"
+
+"He'll bear watching, Tad. He will and it's muh--muh--you understand
+who's going to do it," declared Chunky, swelling out his chest and
+tapping it with his right fist.
+
+"All right, go ahead," laughed Tad. "It's time some of us get into
+more trouble. The Professor will begin to think we've got a fever, or
+something, if we let two days in succession pass without stirring up
+something."
+
+"I've got an idea," exploded Stacy.
+
+"There you go. It's coming now."
+
+"I'll go tell the policeman."
+
+"Why, you ninny, there are no policemen here. Perhaps there is a
+sheriff. Hello, here comes the gentleman who gave me the advice that
+helped me to win those handsome spurs. He's introducing himself to the
+Professor and Mr. Kringle. Let's go over."
+
+Forgetting for the moment the subject they were discussing, Tad and
+Stacy strolled over to the camp-fire.
+
+"O Tad, this is Mr. Marquand, Mr. James Marquand from Albuquerque. He
+wants to know you. And this is another one of our Pony Rider Boys,
+Master Stacy Brown," said the Professor, presenting his boys.
+
+"Marquand!" exclaimed both boys under their breaths.
+
+"I am glad to know you, Master Butler. That was a very fine piece of
+work you did this afternoon. You've steady nerves."
+
+"If there's any credit due it is to you. Your suggestion helped me to
+win the prize. Without it I should have failed," answered Tad
+generously.
+
+"Which way are you headed?" asked Mr. Marquand.
+
+"Guadalupes," answered the guide. "The boys want to explore some of
+the old pueblos."
+
+"And I also," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I understand there is much
+of interest in them."
+
+"I should say so," muttered their guest.
+
+"I'd like a few moments to speak with you in private, if you can spare
+the time," said Tad in a low voice, at the first opportunity.
+
+"At your service now, sir."
+
+"No; not here."
+
+"Then come to my room at the hotel. I'll fix it with the others," said
+Mr. Marquand, observing at once that the lad had some serious purpose
+in mind.
+
+"My friend Chunky will go with me, if agreeable to you?"
+
+"That's all right. Professor, if you have no objection I should like
+to have these two young men go to my quarters with me for a little
+while. I--"
+
+"Certainly. Don't stay out too late, boys."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Wonder what they've got up their sleeves?" muttered Ned, watching the
+receding figures of his two companions and Mr. Marquand.
+
+"You may talk," smiled the latter after they were well started.
+
+"I'd rather not until we are where we shall not be overheard,"
+answered Tad promptly.
+
+All three fell silent. The boys followed their host to his room,
+apparently without having been observed. The little village was too
+full of its own pleasures to notice.
+
+"Be seated, boys. I take for granted that neither of you smoke?"
+
+"Oh no, sir."
+
+"Now, what can I do for you? I am sure you have something of
+importance to yourselves on your minds."
+
+"Not to us specially. Perhaps to you, though," replied Tad.
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"We may be foolish. If so, you will understand that we have no motive
+beyond a desire to serve you."
+
+"That goes without saying."
+
+"Do you know a man by the name of Lasar--Bob Lasar, Mr. Marquand?"
+
+Mr. Marquand started, eyeing both lads questioningly.
+
+"Yes; he is associated with me in a business venture."
+
+"Told you so," interjected Stacy.
+
+"What of him?"
+
+Tad wished he was well out of it all. To be obliged to tell all he
+knew of Bob Lasar, and to the latter's partner, was rather a
+troublesome undertaking.
+
+Plucking up courage, Tad briefly related all that he and his companion
+had overheard on the train as they were approaching Bluewater to all
+of which their host listened with grave attention and increasing
+interest.
+
+"The incident probably would not have come back to me again but for
+certain things that happened to-day," Tad continued.
+
+"Would either of you know Lasar were you to see him again, do you
+think?"
+
+"My friend Chunky Brown saw him here to-day."
+
+"Saw him get out of the stage in front of this very hotel," nodded
+Stacy.
+
+"You are right. He is here. Mr. Lasar had stopped off at a near-by
+town on a personal matter. Can you describe the man whom you saw with
+him on the train?"
+
+"As I remember him, he was slightly taller than Mr. Lasar, with red
+hair and a moustache of the same shade."
+
+"Yes, that's Joe Comstock. No doubt about that," nodded Mr. Marquand.
+"You didn't hear them say what their plan was, then?"
+
+"Not definitely. Only that they intended to rid themselves of you
+after having obtained possession of your plans for finding the
+treasure, or at least learning where it is hidden."
+
+"Hm-m-m!"
+
+Mr. Marquand sat thoughtfully silent for several minutes, the lines of
+his face growing tense and hard. The boys could see that he was
+exerting, a strong effort to control himself.
+
+"You--you haven't told them your plans?" questioned Tad, in a subdued
+voice.
+
+"No. I was going to do so to-night, if Comstock had arrived. He may
+get in yet."
+
+"But you won't do so now--will you?"
+
+"No! I thank you, boys," exclaimed their host, extending an impulsive
+hand to each at the same time.
+
+"Then--then our information is going to be of some use to you?"
+
+"More than you can have any idea of. You have done me a greater
+service than you know. I thank you--thank you from the bottom of my
+heart! Perhaps, ere long I may be able to show my appreciation in a
+more substantial manner."
+
+Marquand ceased speaking abruptly and began pacing back and forth,
+hands thrust deep into his coat pockets. He was a man of slight build,
+but strong and wiry. He was well past middle age, erect and forceful.
+Looking at him, Tad found himself wondering how such a man could have
+gotten into the clutches of two such rascals as Bob Lasar and Joe
+Comstock. Tad hoped their host would offer some explanation, while
+Chunky was nearly bursting with curiosity. Mr. Marquand appeared to
+have forgotten their presence entirely.
+
+"I think we had better be going now," suggested Tad, rising.
+
+"Wait!" commanded their host. "Sit down! I have something to say to
+you. Then, perhaps, I'll walk back to your camp and have a talk with
+the Professor. What sort of man is your guide?"
+
+"He's a very fine man--"
+
+"That's my idea. What you heard on the train is borne out by several
+little things that have come under my observation within the last few
+days, but I did not think they would go as far as you have indicated.
+I will tell you frankly, that I expect the treasure which we hope to
+find to be a big one. How I happened to take these men in with me, in
+the search for it, is unnecessary to state. However, I am done with
+them, now, for good. They know that I have not put my information on
+paper, or else they might have made an end of me before this."
+
+"Is the treasure near this vicinity, Mr. Marquand?" asked Tad.
+
+"About two days' journey. I expect to find it at or near the ruins of
+an old Pueblo house. You know they built their homes one on top of
+another. Some of their adobe houses are six and seven stories high.
+Even if we locate the place, we may experience great difficulty in
+finding that of which we are in search. How would you boys like to
+join me? It will be an interesting experience for you?"
+
+"Help--help you find the buried treasure?" questioned Chunky, his
+face red with suppressed excitement.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Great!" chorused the lads.
+
+"I'll talk with Professor Zepplin. Come, we will go over to the camp
+now."
+
+When Mr. Marquand and the Professor had finished their conference, Tad
+and Chunky leaned forward eagerly to learn the result.
+
+"Yes," nodded Mr. Marquand; "you're all going to help me find the
+ancient Pueblo treasure."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+IN HAND-TO-HAND CONFLICT
+
+
+"I'm done with you, Bob Lasar! And you, too, Comstock!" thundered Mr.
+Marquand, as the rascals stood at the door of his room some two hours
+later.
+
+Mr. Marquand had been waiting for them, and with him was Tad Butler,
+whom he had urged to accompany him back to the hotel that he might be
+a witness to what took place. Perhaps, too, Mr. Marquand reasoned that
+his former associates might not take the same attitude toward him in
+the presence of the boy that they might otherwise take.
+
+The two men had halted in the doorway as Mr. Marquand hurled his
+decision at them.
+
+Lasar shoved his companion into the room and closed the door.
+
+"Sit down, both of you! So you thought to hoodwink me--to get the
+secret of the treasure and then put me out of the way, eh? That was
+your game, was it? Well, it's all off now. I'll have nothing further
+to do with you."
+
+"Why--why, Mr. Marquand, it's all a mistake!" began one of the pair.
+
+"Perhaps you'll deny having plotted against me on a train on your way
+to Bluewater."
+
+"I deny ever having tried to put up a game on--"
+
+"Master Tad, did you ever see these men before?"
+
+They turned on the lad quickly. Neither man had previously observed
+him.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"On the train, as you mentioned just now."
+
+"And they were plotting my life?"
+
+"So it seemed to me, sir."
+
+"What have you to say to that?" demanded Mr. Marquand.
+
+"That the boy lies!"
+
+Tad's face flushed angrily.
+
+"That'll do," said Marquand, more quietly.
+
+"Then you believe him--you do not believe me?"
+
+"I believe him. I know he has told me the truth. Now, it isn't
+necessary to explain to you. You deserve no explanation and you'll get
+none further than what you already have."
+
+"But--"
+
+"No 'buts' about it. I said I was done with you. Now, I want you to
+get out of my sight! You're a couple of rogues--so crooked that you
+can't walk straight."
+
+Bob Lasar's face had grown livid with rage. His anger was rapidly
+getting beyond all bounds. Tad observed it and saw the storm coming.
+It arrived a moment later when Lasar whipped out a revolver.
+
+Before Mr. Marquand could make a move to draw his own weapon Bob had
+aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger.
+
+Tad, instantly divining the purpose of the man when he saw his hand
+fly to the pistol holster under his coat, sprang forward.
+
+There was a deafening report. A bullet buried itself in the ceiling of
+the room.
+
+Tad had struck up the desperado's arm just in the nick of time, thus
+preventing a terrible crime. But the end was not yet. There were five
+more bullets in the cylinder of the weapon, as the lad knew full well.
+
+He grabbed Lasar's arm, hanging on desperately, at the same time
+trying to get a wrestling hold.
+
+The weapon went off again, this time sending a bullet into the floor.
+
+"Look out for the other fellow!" shouted Tad.
+
+Mr. Marquand already had done so. Comstock had just made an attempt to
+draw his own weapon when Marquand threw himself upon the man. The two
+went crashing to the floor, while Tad and Lasar were battling all over
+the room, the latter's weapon barking viciously every little while.
+
+Lasar was much more powerful than his slender antagonist, but Tad
+being very quick on his feet managed to keep out of the way of the
+revolver and at the same time to avoid being thrown.
+
+Suddenly, the boy gave the gun-hand of his opponent a quick twist.
+
+Lasar uttered a sharp exclamation of pain. The revolver clattered to
+the floor.
+
+Quick as a flash, Tad threw a leg behind the knee of his antagonist,
+gave it a quick jerk, with the result that Lasar went to the floor
+with great violence.
+
+By this time, occupants of the hotel were running down the hall, while
+others were hammering at the door. Lasar had turned the key upon
+entering the room.
+
+Those within did not have time to listen to the demands of those in
+the hall, who were demanding admission.
+
+Mr. Marquand, as soon as he got his opponent down, quickly disarmed
+him.
+
+"Get up!" he commanded. "I don't want to kill you. I ought to do so,
+but I won't."
+
+He sprang from Comstock, and jerking Tad from Lasar, whom the lad was
+making heroic efforts to hold down, pulled the fallen rascal to his
+feet.
+
+"Get out, both of you!" he commanded, covering both his visitors with
+his weapon.
+
+Lasar, in struggling to his feet, reached for his revolver.
+
+"Drop it or I'll fill you full of lead!"
+
+At that instant, the door burst open and half a dozen men sprang into
+the room.
+
+Lasar, seeing that he was caught, leaped through the open window. He
+was followed closely by Comstock. He, too, made a clean leap, landing
+on the soft ground below.
+
+"What's the meaning of this shooting?" shouted the proprietor, his
+face flushed with anger.
+
+"Two men tried to murder me," replied Marquand coolly.
+
+"It looks as though you were doing your share of it," snapped the
+proprietor, noting his guest's belligerent attitude and drawn weapon.
+
+Just then three shots in quick succession were fired from the outside.
+Two of the bullets narrowly missed some of the men, who had forced
+their way into the room.
+
+As the third shot was fired, Tad threw one hand to his head; then drew
+it away grinning.
+
+"Those rascals have evidently gotten a new supply of fire arms," he
+said.
+
+A bullet had gone through his hair and his scalp burned where the lead
+had brushed it.
+
+All of the newcomers drew their revolvers and sprang to the window.
+
+"Don't shoot!" cried the Pony Rider Boy; "You'll hit the wrong one.
+There are a hundred people down there."
+
+"He's right!" shouted Mr. Marquand, pushing his way between the men
+and the window, at the imminent risk of getting a bullet in his back
+from either Lasar or Comstock. "Let 'em go. They'll be running for
+home about this time. They are a couple of scoundrels, sir."
+
+"But the damage. Look at my fine room."
+
+"I'll pay for the damage, and I'll quit your hotel now. I've had
+enough of the place," retorted Mr. Marquand, pulling a roll of bills
+from his pocket. "How much is it?"
+
+"Well, you see--"
+
+"How much is it?"
+
+"Well, I guess twenty-five would be about right. You see--"
+
+"Here's your twenty-five. Clear out!"
+
+With many apologies the proprietor, accompanied by the others, backed
+from the room.
+
+"We came pretty near having a fight, didn't we?" Marquand smiled,
+looking at Tad for the first time since the disturbance began.
+
+"Almost."
+
+"He would have got me if you hadn't knocked up his gun-hand. That's
+another one I owe you. Well, maybe we'll have a pay day soon."
+
+"You had better go back to camp with me, and bunk in with us
+to-night," suggested the lad, "We shall want to make an early start in
+the morning, anyway. I think it will be safer there, too. That pair
+won't dare come fooling around our camp, knowing they can't trifle
+with us," added the lad, with a note of pride in his tone.
+
+"I'll do it. Not that I'm afraid of anything that walks on two legs,
+but the sooner we hitch up the better it'll be. Got room enough?"
+
+"Plenty. Where's your pony?"
+
+"Up near your camp. Come on."
+
+The man and the boy walked from the hotel, the former looking neither
+to the right nor to the left, Tad observing their surroundings half
+suspiciously. He was sure they had not yet heard the last of Bob Lasar
+and Joe Comstock. In this he was right.
+
+Marquand and the boy had gone no more than ten rods from the hotel,
+when the report of a revolver was heard, and a bullet fired from the
+corner of an adobe building passed within an inch of Mr. Marquand's
+head.
+
+With wonderful quickness the latter drew and sent three shots at the
+flash.
+
+Whether he had hit any thing or not he did not know.
+
+"Run! I don't want you to get hit," cried the boy's new friend,
+grasping Tad by the hand and starting off at a brisk pace.
+
+"Bullets don't scare me, so long as they don't hit me," laughed young
+Butler.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+MOONBEAM POINTS THE WAY
+
+
+"The moon will be here in a moment."
+
+"What was it the old Pueblo chief said, Mr. Marquand?"
+
+"'When the full of the moon has come and shoots its first arrow over
+the crests of the Guadalupes, it points the way to the treasure of my
+ancient people,'" quoted Mr. Marquand.
+
+"I presume that would be taken to mean that, at a certain phase of the
+moon, one of its beams points to where the treasure is hidden,"
+explained Professor Zepplin. "But what leads you to believe this is
+the Pueblo village of your particular chief's ancestors?"
+
+"Yes; I don't see why it might not be any of the ruined adobe houses
+in this valley?" said Ned Rector.
+
+They had journeyed rapidly over mountain and plain to the valley of
+the Guadalupes, where Mr. Marquand had informed them that he expected
+to find the treasure. In the three days consumed on the journey, the
+travelers had seen nothing of either Lasar or Comstock. Evidently the
+pair had decided to leave the country while they still had the chance,
+fearing that perhaps Mr. Marquand might invoke the aid of the law to
+rid himself of them if they remained.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys and their outfit had arrived that afternoon, and
+during the remaining hours of daylight they had been excitedly
+exploring the ancient dwellings, most of which were in a dilapidated
+condition. There was one, however, two stories in height, that was in
+an excellent state of preservation. In fact it appeared as if it had
+only recently been vacated. After an examination of all the ruins Mr.
+Marquand had discovered what led him to believe that this was the
+structure which the old Pueblo chief referred to in his description of
+the resting place of the treasure. The chief had said he had never
+been near the spot. He was the only member of his tribe to whom the
+secret had been handed down, and he in turn had transmitted it to the
+white man who now stood within the shadow of the ancient dwelling
+place.
+
+"I have my reasons for believing this is the place," answered Mr.
+Marquand, in response to the Professor's question. "If I am wrong, we
+shall have to wait until the moon rises to-morrow night. Come inside
+now, and we will close the door."
+
+All hands crowded into the cool chamber, closing the heavy wooden door
+that barred the entrance.
+
+"Don't see how moonlight can get through solid walls," muttered Stacy.
+"Ought to leave the door open."
+
+No one answered him. In the darkened chamber, with its peculiar, musty
+odors, the boys did not feel in the mood for hilarity or even for
+speech. There was something about their situation that seemed to
+impress them profoundly.
+
+"Stand over against the wall on the side, so as not to obstruct any
+light that might possibly get in here," directed Mr. Marquand.
+
+The others moved silently to the side of the room indicated by him.
+They had stood thus for fully five minutes when an exclamation from
+Stacy broke the stillness harshly.
+
+"Look! Look!" cried the fat boy.
+
+A slender shaft of light had suddenly pierced the blackness, coming
+they knew not whence. It was there.
+
+"Must be a pin hole through the wall up near the ceiling," suggested
+Kris Kringle.
+
+The silver thread shot across the chamber, ending abruptly on the
+adobe floor some three feet from the back wall.
+
+"That's the spot!" shouted Mr. Marquand triumphantly.
+
+He threw himself on the floor, and with his knife scratched a cross on
+the spot where the moonbeam rested. Scarcely had he done so when the
+delicate shaft of light disappeared as suddenly as it had come.
+
+"It's gone," breathed the boys.
+
+"But it has pointed the way."
+
+"And we have followed the silver trail to its end," added Ned Rector
+poetically.
+
+"Bring the tools!" cried Mr. Marquand.
+
+While they were doing so, he struck a match and lighted the lantern
+that they had brought with them from their camp in the foothills. His
+first care was to bar the door with the heavy wooden timber that he
+had cut and which he now slipped into its fastenings.
+
+A close examination of the floor revealed no marks save those put
+there by the treasure-hunter's knife.
+
+"This house seems to be built on the solid ground. I do not think you
+will find anything under it," protested the Professor.
+
+"There are houses under every one of these buildings," answered Mr.
+Marquand. He held a short, keen edged bar in place, while Kris Kringle
+swung the maul. Gradually they cut a ring about two feet in diameter
+about the cross. The material of which the floor had been made had
+been tempered with the years and was almost as hard as flint.
+
+The steady thud of the heavy maul, accompanied by the click, click of
+the cutting bar, the dim light, the silent, expectant faces, formed a
+weird picture in this silent desert place.
+
+After a full half hour of this the two men paused, and stood back,
+drawing sleeves across their foreheads to wipe away the perspiration.
+
+Stacy Brown walked pompously over to the circle.
+
+"Maybe I can fall through it. If I can't, nobody can," he said,
+jumping up and down on the spot where they had been cutting.
+
+There followed a rambling sound, and with a yell, Stacy Brown suddenly
+disappeared from sight. In place of the circle in which he had been
+standing was a black, ragged hole, from which particles of the mortar
+were still crumbling and rattling to the bottom of the pit.
+
+"Are you there?" cried Kris Kringle, leaping to the spot, thrusting
+the lantern down through the opening. "Master Stacy!"
+
+"Wow!" responded the boy from the depths.
+
+"Did it hurt you?"
+
+"How far did you fall?"
+
+This and other questions were hurled at the fat boy, as his companions
+crowded about the opening.
+
+"I'm killed. That'll answer all your questions," replied Stacy. "Hurry
+up! Get my remains out of this place."
+
+The rays of the lantern disclosed a short stairway, built of the same
+material of which the house itself had been constructed.
+
+Mr. Marquand forced himself past the guide and was down the steps in a
+twinkling. He was followed by the wondering Pony Rider Boys, Professor
+Zepplin and Kris Kringle in short order, for all crowded down through
+the narrow opening.
+
+Chunky had hit the top step and rolled all the way down. He had
+scrambled to his feet and was rubbing his shins by the time his
+friends reached him. His clothes were torn and he was covered with
+dust.
+
+"Fell down the cellar, didn't I?" he grinned.
+
+But no one gave any heed to him now. Mr. Marquand had snatched at the
+lantern and was running from point to point of the chamber in which
+they found themselves. He was laboring under great excitement.
+
+"Here's another opening," he shouted. "We haven't got to the bottom
+yet."
+
+Another flight of stairs led to still another and smaller chamber
+below. Mr. Marquand let out a yell the moment he reached the bottom.
+The others rushed pell-mell after him.
+
+There, with it's top just showing above the dirt was a long iron
+chest.
+
+"Give me the maul!" shouted the excited treasure seeker.
+
+He attacked the rusty iron fastenings; at last the cover yielded to
+his thunderous blows and falling on its edge, toppled over to the
+floor with a crash.
+
+"Somebody's old clothes," chuckled Stacy, peering into the open chest.
+
+The garments, priestly robes that lay at the top, fell to pieces the
+instant Mr. Marquand laid violent hands on them.
+
+"Look! Look! Was I right or was I wrong?" he cried, beside himself
+with joy.
+
+There, before their astonished eyes, lay a chest of gold--coins
+dulled by age, small nuggets and chunks of silver, all heaped
+indiscriminately in the treasure chest.
+
+"I did it!" shouted Chunky. "I did it with my little feet! I fell in
+and discovered the treasure!"
+
+The tongues of the Pony Rider Boys were suddenly loosened. Such a
+shout as they set up probably never had been heard before in the
+ancient adobe mansion of the Pueblos. Cheer after cheer echoed through
+the chambers and reached the ears of a dozen desperadoes who were
+skulking amid the sage brush without.
+
+Professor Zepplin scooped up a handful of the coins and examined them
+under the lantern.
+
+"Old Spanish coins," he informed them. "Pure gold. And look at these
+nuggets! Where do you suppose the Indians found them?"
+
+"There are hidden mines in the State," informed Mr. Marquand. "Some of
+these days they will be discovered. I have been hunting for them
+myself, but without success. Boys, what do you think of it now? If it
+had not been for you I might never have seen this sight."
+
+Their eyes were fairly bulging as they gazed at the heap of gold.
+Chunky squatted down scooping up a double handful and letting the
+coins run through his fingers. Then the other boys dipped in, laughing
+for pure joy, more because their adventure had borne fruit than for
+the love of the gold itself.
+
+"Must be more'n a bushel of it," announced Stacy.
+
+"Those old Franciscans must have been saving up for a rainy day. And
+it never rained here at all," suggested Ned humorously.
+
+"Shall we count it?" asked Mr. Marquand.
+
+"Just as you wish," replied the Professor.
+
+"Were I in your place, Mr. Marquand, I should get the stuff out of
+here as soon as possible. You can't tell what may happen. I would
+suggest that we secure the treasure and be on our way at once. You
+will want to get it to a bank as quickly as possible. This is one of
+the things that cannot be kept quiet."
+
+"You are right. Will somebody go over to the camp and get those gunny
+sacks of mine? I don't want to lose sight of my find for a minute. You
+know how I feel about it--not that I do not trust you. You know--"
+
+"Surely we understand," smiled Tad.
+
+"And you all have an interest in it--you shall share the treasure
+with me--"
+
+"No, we don't," shouted the boys. "We've had more than a million
+dollars worth of fun out of it already."
+
+"Certainly not," added the Professor.
+
+"We'll discuss that later," said Mr. Marquand firmly. "Just now we
+must take care of what we have found. Who will get the bags?"
+
+"We will," answered the boys promptly.
+
+"No; you stay here. I'll get them," answered Kris Kringle. "Light me
+up the stairs so I don't break my neck in this old rookery."
+
+One of the boys lighted the way to the next floor, then stepped back
+into the cellar, where Mr. Marquand was turning over the treasure in
+an effort to find out if the pile extended all the way to the bottom
+of the chest.
+
+In the meantime Kris Kringle unbarred the door and threw it part way
+open. He did it cautiously, as if half expecting trouble.
+
+He threw the door to with a bang, springing to one side, and dropping
+the bar back into place.
+
+The reason for his sudden change of plans was that no sooner had the
+door opened than several thirty-eight calibre bullets were fired from
+the sage brush outside.
+
+Kris Kringle waited to learn whether those in the cellar had heard the
+shots. But they had not. They were some distance below ground, and
+their minds were wholly taken up with the great treasure before them.
+
+After a few moments the guide once more removed the bar, first having
+drawn his revolver in case of sudden surprise. Then he cautiously
+opened the door an inch or so.
+
+At first nothing happened. The moonlit landscape lay as silent and
+peaceful as if there were not a human being on the desert.
+
+There were six distinct flashes all at once and a rain of lead
+showered into the door.
+
+Kris Kringle took a pot shot at one of the flashes, then slammed the
+door shut and barred it.
+
+"Well; I hope that would get you," he muttered.
+
+Hastily retracing his steps he called the party up to the second
+cellar.
+
+"Did you fetch the sacks?" called Mr. Marquand.
+
+"No, but I've fetched trouble. It's coming in sackfuls."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"We're besieged."
+
+"Besieged?" wondered the Professor.
+
+"Yes; there's a crowd outside, and they've been trying to shoot me up.
+Must be some of your friends, Mr. Marquand."
+
+"Lasar and Comstock? The scoundrels!" growled Mr. Marquand. "But we'll
+make short work of them."
+
+"Not so easy as you think There are more than two out there--there's
+a crowd and they've got rifles. Our rifles are over in the camp. I've
+got a six-shooter and so have you, but what do they amount to against
+half a dozen rifles?"
+
+"I'll talk to them, if I can get any place to make them hear,"
+announced Mr. Marquand, starting up the stairs.
+
+"I reckon there's a window on the second floor, but you'd better be
+careful that you don't get winged," warned the guide.
+
+Mr. Marquand went right on, and the others followed. As the guide had
+said there was a small window on the floor above the ground,
+apparently the only one in the house.
+
+Mr. Marquand hailed the besiegers.
+
+"Who are you and what do you mean by shooting us up in this fashion?"
+he demanded.
+
+"You ought to know who we are, Jim Marquand, and you know what we
+want!"
+
+"Yes, I know you all right, Lasar, and I'll make you smart for this."
+
+"The place is as much mine as it is yours," answered Lasar. "And I
+propose to take it! If you'll make an even divvy of what you have
+found, or expect to find, we'll go away and let you alone. If you
+don't we'll take the whole outfit."
+
+"Take it, take it!" jeered Marquand. "You couldn't take it in a
+hundred years--not unless you used artillery."
+
+"Then we'll starve you out," replied the man in the sage brush.
+
+"Look out!" warned the guide.
+
+Mr. Marquand sprang to one side just as a volley crashed through the
+opening, the bullets rattling to the floor after bounding back from
+the flint-like walls.
+
+"I guess they've got you, Mr. Marquand. We can't hold out forever. If
+we had rifles we could pick them off by daylight. But when morning
+comes they'll draw back out of revolver range and plunk the first man
+who shows himself outside. Have you any title to this property?"
+
+"Yes. I have bought up a hundred acres about here. The deeds are in my
+pocket. I guess nobody has a better title.".
+
+"His title is all right," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I made sure of
+that before I decided to come with Mr. Marquand."
+
+"Then there's only one thing to be done."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Get a sheriff's posse and bag the whole bunch."
+
+Mr. Marquand laughed harshly.
+
+"If we were in a position to get a posse we should be able to get away
+without one. I think we had better go below. This is not a very safe
+place with this open window."
+
+"I'll remain here."
+
+"What for, Kringle?"
+
+"Somebody's got to watch the front door to see that they don't play
+any tricks on us. It's clouding up, and if the night gets dark they'll
+try to get in."
+
+"How far is it to a place where we could get a sheriff?" asked Tad,
+who had been thinking deeply.
+
+"Hondo. Fifteen miles due east of here as the moon rises. Why?"
+
+"If I were sure I could find my way, I think I might get some help,"
+answered the lad quietly.
+
+"You!" snapped Mr. Marquand, turning on him.
+
+"If I had a rope. Perhaps I can do it without one."
+
+"I'd like to know how?"
+
+Mr. Marquand was inclined to treat the proposition lightly, believing
+that such a move as proposed by Tad Butler was an impossibility. Kris
+Kringle, however, was regarding the boy inquiringly. He knew that Tad
+had some plan in mind and that it was likely to be a good one.
+
+"The rascals are all out in front of the house, aren't they?"
+
+"Yes, Master Tad. There's no reason why they should be behind the
+house. They know we can't get out that way; because there is no
+opening on that side."
+
+Tad nodded.
+
+"Then I can do it."
+
+"Tad, what foolish idea have you in mind now? I cannot consent to your
+taking any more chances."
+
+"Professor, we are taking long enough chances as it is. Unless we are
+relieved soon, we shall be starved out and perhaps worse."
+
+"What's your plan?" interrupted Kris Kringle.
+
+"See that hole in the roof up there?" Tad pointed.
+
+They had not seen it before, but they did now. A light suddenly dawned
+upon Kris Kringle.
+
+"Boy, you are the only level-headed one in the outfit. You would have
+made a corking Indian fighter."
+
+"I'm the Indian fighter," chimed in Stacy.
+
+"You can boost me up to the hole and I'll go over the rear of the
+house, get to the camp and from there ride to Hondo."
+
+Tad's three companions started a cheer, which the guide sternly put
+down.
+
+"I can't consent to any such plan," decided the Professor sternly.
+
+The rest reasoned with him until, finally, he did consent, though he
+knew the lad would be taking desperate chances. Tad understood that as
+well as the rest of them, but he was burning to be off.
+
+Kris Kringle gave him careful directions as to how to get to the
+place.
+
+"Take your rifle with you, if you can get it. After you get half a
+mile or a mile away shoot once. That will tell us you are all right."
+
+"You can help me in getting away from here, if you will do some
+shooting to cover my escape," suggested Tad.
+
+"That's a good idea," agreed the guide. "You wait on the roof until we
+begin to rake the sage with our revolvers. Then drop. Take a wide
+circuit, so that you won't stumble over the enemy."
+
+Tad gave his belt a hitch, stuffed his sombrero under it and announced
+himself as ready.
+
+The guide stepped under the hole. Tad quickly climbed to his shoulder
+and stood up like a circus performer. He could easily reach the roof
+with his hands. A second more and his feet were lifted from the
+shoulders of the guide. They saw the figure in the opening; then it
+disappeared.
+
+A slight scraping noise was the only sound they heard.
+
+Tad flattened himself out and wriggled along toward the rear of the
+roof. Peering over the edge he made sure that there was no one about.
+He then lay quietly waiting for the shooting to begin.
+
+"Let 'em have it," directed Kris Kringle.
+
+A sudden fusillade was emptied into the sage brush.
+
+Tad swung himself over the edge of the roof, hung on for a few
+seconds, then dropped lightly to the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+The enemy answered the shots with a volley, and for a few moments a
+lot of ammunition was wasted while the odor of gunpowder assailed
+nostrils on both sides.
+
+After that, the shooting died away. As the minutes lengthened into an
+hour, and no word of Tad's mission had been received, the defenders
+began to grow restless. They were under a double tension now. Mr.
+Marquand was pacing up and down the floor.
+
+Suddenly, forgetful of the danger that lurked out there, he poked his
+head out of the window.
+
+A sharp pat on the stone window frame beside him, after the bullet had
+snipped off the tip of his left ear, caused Mr. Marquand to draw back
+suddenly. He stalked about the floor, holding a handkerchief to the
+wounded ear, "talking in dashes and asterisks," as Chunky put it.
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore a grim smile. He was taking chances of being
+shot, every second now, but he insisted in holding his place at the
+side of the window so he could listen and watch.
+
+A thin, fleecy veil covered the moon, but it was not dense enough to
+fully hide objects on the landscape.
+
+"All keep quiet, now," warned Kris Kringle. "We should get a signal
+pretty soon."
+
+"I'm afraid something has happened to the boy," muttered the
+Professor. Then all fell silent.
+
+"There it goes!" exclaimed the guide in a tone of great relief.
+
+The crack of a rifle afar off sounded clear and distinct.
+
+"He's made it. Thank heaven!" breathed Mr. Marquand fervently.
+
+Chunky leaped to the opening, swung his sombrero as he leaned out, and
+uttered a long, shrill "y-e-o-w!"
+
+A bullet chipped the adobe at his side. Stacy ducked, throwing himself
+on the floor, sucking a thumb energetically.
+
+"Wing you?" inquired Kris Kringle.
+
+"Somebody burned my thumb," wailed the fat boy.
+
+"It was a bullet that burned you. Served you right too. Somebody tie
+that boy up or he'll be killed," counseled the guide.
+
+The besiegers could not have failed to hear the shot from Tad's rifle,
+but it did not seem to disturb them. They evidently did not even dream
+that one of the party had escaped their vigilance and that he was well
+on his way for assistance.
+
+The wait from that time on was a tedious and trying one, though each
+felt a certain sense of elation that Tad Butler had succeeded in
+outwitting the enemy.
+
+It was shortly after two o'clock in the morning when Kris Kringle
+espied a party of horsemen slowly encircling the adobe house. The
+riders were strung out far off on the plain. Those hiding in the sage
+in front of the house could not see the approaching horsemen.
+
+"There they come," whispered Kris Kringle. "Begin shooting!"
+
+The two men started firing, while the besiegers poured volley after
+volley through the window.
+
+The posse at this, closed in at a gallop. Their rifles now began to
+crash.
+
+In a few minutes it was all over. The sheriff's men surrounded the
+besiegers, placing every man of them under arrest. After this the
+officers quickly liberated the Pony Rider Boys. Three of the besiegers
+had been wounded. Among them, was the Mexican whom Tad had defeated in
+the tilting game a few days before.
+
+When all was over, the boys hoisted Tad Butler on their shoulders and
+marched around the adobe house shouting and singing. Mr. Marquand
+decided to go back with the posse, using these men as a guard for his
+treasure. It was understood that the Pony Rider Boys were to follow
+the next morning. Before leaving, Mr. Marquand called the Professor
+aside.
+
+"There is, on a rough estimate, all of sixty thousand dollars in the
+treasure chest. Had it not been for you and your brave boys I should
+have lost it. So, when you reach Hondo to-morrow, I shall take great
+pleasure in presenting to each of you a draft for two thousand
+dollars."
+
+Professor Zepplin protested, but Mr. Marquand insisted, and he kept
+his word. After the posse, with their prisoners and the treasure, had
+started, the Pony Rider Boys, arm in arm, started off across the
+moonlit meadows toward their camp. It was their last night in camp.
+Their summer's journeyings had come to an end--a fitting close to
+their adventurous travels. Not a word did they speak until they
+reached the camp. There, they turned and gazed off over the plain
+which was all silvered under the now clear light of the moon.
+
+"It has been a silver trail," mused Tad Butler.
+
+"It has indeed," breathed his companions
+
+"And we've reached the end of The Silver Trail," added the Professor,
+coming up at that moment. "To-morrow I'll breathe the first free
+breath that I've drawn in three months."
+
+The boys circled slowly around him and joined hands. Then their voices
+rose on the mellow desert air to the tune of
+
+                         "Home, Sweet Home."
+
+A week later saw the wanderers back in Chillicothe. Their welcome was
+a warm one. Banker Perkins found his once ailing son now transformed
+into a sturdy young giant.
+
+We shall meet them again in the next volume of this series--in a tale
+of surpassing wonders--published under the title: "THE PONY RIDER
+BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or, the Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch." It
+will be found to be by far the most interesting volume so far
+published about the splendid Pony Rider Boys.
+
+ The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico, by 
+Frank Gee Patchin
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+Project Gutenberg's The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico, by Frank Gee Patchin
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+
+
+Title: The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
+
+Author: Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Posting Date: May 26, 2013 [EBook #4991]
+Release Date: January, 2004
+First Posted: April 7, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jim Weiler
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<h1>The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico</h1>
+
+<h4>or</h4>
+
+<h4>The End of the Silver Trail</h4>
+
+<h2>by Frank Gee Patchin, 1910</h2>
+
+<hr>
+<h3>CHAPTER I</h3>
+
+<h4>SOMETHING IN THE WIND</h4>
+
+<p>"What was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only one of the boys in the seat behind us, snoring."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure they're asleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but what if they're not? They are only kids. They
+wouldn't understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you be too sure about that. I've heard about those
+kids. Heard about 'em over in Nevada. There's four of them. They
+call themselves the Pony Rider Boys; and they're no tenderfeet,
+if all I hear is true. They have done some pretty lively
+stunts."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's all right, Bob, but we ain't going to begin by
+getting cold feet over a bunch of kids out for a holiday."</p>
+
+<p>"Where they going?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't know. Presume they'll be taking a trip over the plains
+or heading for the mountains. They've got a stock car up ahead
+jammed full of stock and equipment."</p>
+
+<p>"Scarecrows?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Good stock. Some of the slickest ponies you ever set eyes
+on. There's one roan there that I wouldn't mind owning. Maybe we
+can make a trade," and the speaker chuckled softly to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>A snore louder than those that had preceded it, caused the two
+men to laugh heartily.</p>
+
+<p>The snore had come from Stacy Brown. Both he and Tad Butler
+were resting from their long journey on the Atlantic and Pacific
+train. Further to the rear of the car, their companions, Ned
+Rector and Walter Perkins, also were curled up in a double seat,
+with Professor Zepplin sitting very straight as if sleep were
+furthest from his thoughts. They were nearing their destination
+now, and within the hour would be unloading their stock and
+equipment at Bluewater.</p>
+
+<p>"They're asleep all right," grinned one of the two men who
+occupied the seat just ahead of Stacy and Tad. "Is old man
+Marquand going to meet us at the station?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no. That wouldn't be a good thing. Might attract too much
+attention. Told him not to. We'll get a couple of ponies at
+Bluewater and ride across the mountains. But we've got to be
+slick. The old man is no fool. He'll hang on to the location of
+the treasure till the last old cat's gone to sleep for good."</p>
+
+<p>"Any idea where the place is?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Except that it's somewhere south of the Zuni range."</p>
+
+<p>A solitary eye in the seat behind, opened cautiously. The eye
+belonged to Stacy Brown. The last snore had awakened him, and he
+had lain with closed eyes listening to the conversation of the
+two men.</p>
+
+<p>He gave Tad a gentle nudge, which was returned with a soft
+pressure on Stacy's right arm as a warning that he was to remain
+quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what the treasure consists of?"</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe a mine, but as near as I could draw from Marquand's
+talk it is jewels and Spanish money which one of the old
+Franciscan monks had buried. The Pueblos knew where it was, but
+they sealed the place up after the Pueblo revolution in 1680, and
+it's been corked tight ever since."</p>
+
+<p>"How'd Marquand get wise to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"From an old Pueblo Chief whose life he saved a few months
+ago. The old chief died a little while afterwards, but before he
+went, he told Marquand about the treasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't suppose a redskin had so much gratitude under his
+tough skin. Does the old man know where the place is?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not exactly. That's where we come in," grinned the
+speaker. "We are going to help him find it."</p>
+
+<p>"And then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well. There's lots of ways to get rid of him."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"He might tumble off into a canyon, or something of the sort,
+in the night time. Here's the place."</p>
+
+<p>The train was rounding a bend into the little town of
+Bluewater.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit still," whispered Tad. "I want to get a look at those
+fellows so I'll know them next time I see them."</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider boy left his seat, and hurrying to the forward
+end of the car, helped himself to a drink of water from the tank;
+then slowly retraced his steps.</p>
+
+<p>As he walked down the car, he took in the two men in one
+swift, comprehensive glance, then swung his hands to his
+companions at the other end of the car, as a signal that they
+were arriving at their destination.</p>
+
+<p>"Know 'em?" whispered Stacy as Tad began pulling his baggage
+from the rack.</p>
+
+<p>"Never saw either before. Better get your stuff together. This
+train is fast only when it stops. It drags along over the
+country, but when it gets into a station it's always in a hurry
+to get away," laughed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later the party of bronzed young men sprang from
+the car to the station platform, where they instantly became the
+center of a throng of curious villagers.</p>
+
+<p>Readers of the preceding volumes of this series are already
+too well acquainted with the Pony Rider Boys to need a formal
+introduction. As told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES,"
+the lads had set out from their homes in Missouri for a summer's
+vacation in the saddle. That first volume detailed how the lads
+penetrated the fastnesses of the Rockies, hunted big game and how
+they finally discovered the Lost Claim, which they won after
+fighting a battle with the mountaineers, thus earning for
+themselves quite a fortune.</p>
+
+<p>In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS," the boys were again seen to
+advantage. There they joined in a cattle drive across the state
+as cowboys. They played an exciting part in the rough life of the
+cowmen, meeting with many stirring adventures. It will be
+remembered how, in this story, Tad Butler saved a large part of
+the herd, besides performing numerous heroic deeds, including the
+saving of the life of a member of the party from a swollen river.
+At the end of their journey, they solved a deep mystery&mdash;a
+mystery that had perplexed and worried the cattle men, besides
+causing them heavy financial loss.</p>
+
+<p>In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA," the scene shifted to the
+old Custer Trail, the battle ground of one of the most tragic
+events in American history. The story described how Tad Butler
+overheard a plot to stampede and kill a flock of many thousand
+sheep; how after experiencing many hardships, he finally carried
+the news to the owner of the herd; then later, participated in
+the battle between the cowmen and sheep herders, in which the
+latter emerged victorious.</p>
+
+<p>It will be recalled too, how the Pony Rider Boy was captured
+by the Blackfeet Indians and taken to their mountain retreat,
+where with a young companion he was held until they made their
+escape with the assistance of an Indian maiden; how they were
+pursued by the savages, the bullets from whose rifles singing
+over the heads of the lads as they headed for a river into which
+they plunged, thus effectually throwing off the savage pursuers;
+and finally, how in time they made their way back to the camp of
+the Pony Riders, having solved the mystery of the old Custer
+Trail.</p>
+
+<p>After these exciting adventures, the lads concluded to cut
+short their Montana trip and go on to the next stage of their
+journeyings, which was destined to be even more stirring than any
+that had preceded it. How Tad Butler and Stacy Brown proved
+themselves to be real heroes, was told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN
+THE OZARKS."</p>
+
+<p>For a long time, an organized band of thieves had been
+stealing stock in the Ozark range, baffling all efforts to
+apprehend them. The boys had been warned to guard their own stock
+carefully, but despite this, their ponies were stolen from camp,
+one by one and in a most mysterious manner, until not an animal
+was left. Then, one by one, the Pony Rider Boys became lost until
+only Tad and Stacy remained. They were facing starvation, and it
+will be recalled how Tad Butler made a plucky trip to the nearest
+mining camp for assistance. There the boys were imprisoned
+underground by a mine explosion; escaping from which, they met
+with perils every bit as grave, and from which they were
+eventually rescued by Stacy himself.</p>
+
+<p>Through the disaster, the lads solved the Secret of the Ruby
+Mountain, thus putting an end for good to the wholesale thieving
+in the Ozark range.</p>
+
+<p>Though the Pony Rider Boys had suffered many hardships in
+their journeyings, those that lay before them were destined to
+try them even more. In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI," they
+faced the perils of the baking alkali desert. It will be recalled
+how they fought desperately for water when all the usual sources
+of supply were found to have run dry; how Tad and Stacy Brown
+were captured by a desert hermit and thrown into a cave; how,
+after their escape, they were lost in the Desert Maze, and how
+after many hardships, they finally succeeded in making their way
+to camp, dragging behind them a wild coyote that Tad had roped
+when the boys were beset by the wild beasts in the dead of
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing daunted by their trying experiences the Pony Rider
+Boys set out on the concluding trip of the season&mdash;a journey
+over the historic plains and mountains of New Mexico. After a
+long railroad ride, they had finally arrived at the town of
+Bluewater, from which they were to begin their explorations in
+the southwest.</p>
+
+<p>A guide was to meet and conduct them across the mountains of
+the Zuni range and so on to the southern borders of the
+state.</p>
+
+<p>By the time they reached the platform of the station, the
+stock car had been uncoupled and was being shifted to a side
+track where they might unload their belongings at their
+leisure.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder where that guide is," said Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"He was told to be here," answered the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind; we can unload better without him," averred Ned,
+starting off at a brisk trot for their car which had been shunted
+alongside the platform at the rear of the station.</p>
+
+<p>With joyous anticipation of the new scenes and experiences
+that lay before them, the lads set briskly to work, and within an
+hour had all the stock and equipment removed from the car.</p>
+
+<p>There was quite an imposing collection, with their ponies,
+their burros, tents and other equipment, the latter lying strewn
+all over the open level space beyond the station.</p>
+
+<p>"Looks as if a circus had just come to town," laughed
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got a side show, anyway," retorted Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"What's our side show?"</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky's that."</p>
+
+<p>"No; he's the clown. The rest of us are the animals, only
+we're not in cages."</p>
+
+<p>"Hey, fellows, see that funny Mexican on the burro there,"
+laughed Chunky. "Guess he never saw an outfit like ours
+before."</p>
+
+<p>The lads could not repress a laugh as they glanced at the
+figure pointed out by Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>The man was sitting on the burro, his feet extended on the
+ground before him, hands thrust deep into trousers pockets. He
+was observing the work of the boys curiously. The fellow's high,
+conical head was crowned by a peaked Mexican hat, much the worse
+for wear, while his coarse, black hair was combed straight down
+over a pair of small, piercing, dark eyes. The complexion, or
+such of it as was visible through the mask of wiry hair, was
+swarthy, his form thin and insignificant.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy Brown strode over to him somewhat pompously.</p>
+
+<p>"You speak English?" questioned the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>The Mexican's lips curled back, revealing two rows of
+gleaming, white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad to hear it. I didn't think you could. We are looking
+for a guide who was to have met us here to conduct us over the
+mountains. His name is Juan. It'll be something else when he does
+show up. Do you know him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't he coming to meet us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I must say he's taking his time about getting here.
+Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Juan here, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>"Here? I don't see him," answered the lad, looking about the
+place.</p>
+
+<p>"Me Juan," grinned the Mexican. "You?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind the se&ntilde;or. I'll take for granted I'm a
+se&ntilde;or, or whatever else you think. Say, fellows, come
+here," commanded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's the matter?" demanded Ned, approaching, followed
+by the other boys.</p>
+
+<p>"This is it," announced Stacy, with a wave of his hand toward
+the Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" sniffed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"This."</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky, what are you getting at?" questioned Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps this gentleman will know where we may find our
+guide," interrupted the Professor, coming up. "Se&ntilde;or, do
+you know one Juan&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he knows him," grinned Stacy. "He's very well acquainted
+with the gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Then where may we find this Juan</p>
+
+<p>"That's Juan&mdash;that's your guide," Stacy informed the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;are you the guide?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>The Professor opened his eyes in amazement. The burro, on the
+other hand, stood with nose to the ground sound asleep, oblivious
+to all that was taking place about him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you make yourself known&mdash;why haven't you
+helped us to unload?" demanded the Professor in an irritated
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Me no <i>peon</i>. Me guide."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a guide," explained Stacy. "Guides don't work, you know,
+Professor. They are just ornaments. He and the burro are going to
+pose for our amusement."</p>
+
+<p>The boys laughed heartily. Professor Zepplin uttered an
+exclamation of impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, if you are going with this outfit you will be expected
+to do your share of the labor. There are no drones in our
+hive."</p>
+
+<p>"No; we all work," interposed Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"And some of us are eaters," added Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his pearly teeth.</p>
+
+<p>At the Professor's command, however, Juan stepped off the
+burro without in the least disturbing that animal's dreams and
+lazily began collecting the baggage as directed by the Professor.
+After the equipment had been sorted into piles, the boys did it
+up into neat packs which they skillfully strapped to the backs of
+the burros of their pack train. Juan, lost in contemplation of
+their labors, forgot his own duties until reminded of them by
+Stacy, who gave the guide a violent poke in the ribs with his
+thumb.</p>
+
+<p>Juan started; then, with a sheepish grin, became busy
+again.</p>
+
+<p>It was no small task to get their belongings in packs
+preparatory to the journey; but late in the afternoon the boys
+had completed their task. They had had nothing to eat since early
+morning. But they were too anxious to be on their way to wait for
+dinner in town.</p>
+
+<p>After making some necessary purchases in the village, the
+procession finally started away across the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll never get anywhere with that sleepy burro, Juan,"
+decided the Professor, with a shake of the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Him go fast," grinned the Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"So can a crab on dry land," jeered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the guide utter a series of shrill "yi-yi's,"
+whereupon the lads were treated to an exhibition such as they
+never had seen before.</p>
+
+<p>The sleepy burro projected his head straight out before him,
+while his tail, raised to a level with his back, stuck straight
+out behind him. The burro, seemingly imbued with sudden life, was
+off at a pace faster than a man could run.</p>
+
+<p>It was most astonishing. The boys gazed in amazement; then
+burst out in a chorus of approving yells.</p>
+
+<p>But it was the rider, even more than the burro, that excited
+their mirth. His long legs were working like those of a jumping
+jack, and though astride of the burro, Juan was walking at a
+lively pace. It reminded one of the way men propelled the
+old-fashioned velocipedes years before.</p>
+
+<p>A cloud of dust rose behind the odd outfit as the party drew
+out on the plains. Their ponies were started at a gallop, which
+was necessary to enable them to keep up with the pace that Juan
+had set.</p>
+
+<p>"Here! Here!" shouted the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>Juan never looked back.</p>
+
+<p>"We're leaving the pack train. Slow down!"</p>
+
+<p>Laughingly the lads pulled their ponies down to a walk; then
+halted entirely to enable the burros to catch up with them. By
+this time the pack animals had become so familiar with their work
+that little attention was necessary on the part of the boys. Now
+and then one more sleepy than the rest would go to sleep and
+pause to doze a few minutes on the trail. This always
+necessitated all hands stopping to wait until the sleeper could
+be rounded up and driven up to the bunch.</p>
+
+<p>Juan had disappeared. They were discussing the advisability of
+sending one of the boys out after him when he was seen returning.
+But at what a different gait! His burro was dragging itself along
+with nose to the ground, while Juan himself was slouching on its
+back half asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"You must have a motor inside that beast," grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Him go some, se&ntilde;or?"</p>
+
+<p>"Him do," answered Stacy, his solemn eyes taking in the sleepy
+burro wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Better not waste your energy performing," advised the
+Professor. "We shall need what little you have. We will make camp
+here, as I see there is a spring near by. Help the boys unpack
+the burros."</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or," answered the guide, standing erect and
+permitting his burro to walk from under him.</p>
+
+<p>With shouts and songs the lads, in great good humor, went to
+work at once, pitching their camp for the first time on the
+plains of New Mexico. There was much to be done, and twilight was
+upon them before they had advanced far enough to begin cooking
+their evening meal.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II</h3>
+
+<h4>IN THE ZUNI FOOTHILLS</h4>
+
+<p>A sudden wail from the guide attracted the attention of the
+party to him at once. "Now what's the matter?" demanded Tad,
+hurrying to him.</p>
+
+<p>The guide had thrown himself prone upon the ground and was
+groaning as if in great agony, offering no reply to the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, si, se&ntilde;or," moaned Juan.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"Estomago&mdash;mucho malo."</p>
+
+<p>"Your stomach?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's got a pain under his apron," diagnosed Stacy
+solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Been working too hard," suggested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the guide was rolling and twisting on the
+ground, glancing appealingly from one to the other of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Professor, hadn't you better fetch your medicine case and
+dose him up?" asked Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'll attend to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Give him a good dose while you are about it," urged Ned.
+"Something that will cure his laziness at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>The Professor brought his case; then, remembering something
+else in his kit that he wanted, he laid the case down and hurried
+back to his tent. However, Stacy opened the case, selecting a
+bottle, apparently at random, drew the cork and held the bottle
+under Juan's nose.</p>
+
+<p>"Smell of this, my son. It'll cure your estomago on the
+run."</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful, Chunky, what are you doing there?" warned Tad.
+"You shouldn't fool with the medicines. You&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>His further remarks were cut short by a sudden yell of terror
+and pain from Juan.</p>
+
+<p>The guide leaped to his feet choking, gasping, while the tears
+ran down his cheeks as he danced about as if suddenly bereft of
+his senses.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you've gone and done it," growled Ned. "He never moved so
+fast in his life, I'll wager."</p>
+
+<p>Juan was running in a circle now, shrieking and moaning.
+Professor Zepplin approached them in a series of leaps. He could
+not imagine what new disaster had overtaken the lazy Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here, here, what's the trouble now?" He demanded
+sternly. "Stop that howling!"</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky's been prescribing for your patient in your absence,"
+Ned informed him.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor grabbed the wild guide by the collar, giving him
+a vigorous shake. When he released his grip, Juan sank to the
+ground in a heap, moaning weakly.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that you say? Stacy prescribed&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I let him smell of the bottle," explained Stacy
+guiltily.</p>
+
+<p>"What bottle?"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy slowly picked up the offending bottle and handed it to
+the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Ammonia! Boy, you might have put his eyes out! Never let this
+occur again. Remember, you are not to touch the medicines under
+any circumstances whatever!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," agreed Chunky meekly, while Ned Rector strolled
+away, shaking with laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Drink," begged the patient.</p>
+
+<p>"Fetch him some water," directed Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no, se&ntilde;or," protested Juan, gesticulating
+protestingly.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"Guess he wants something stronger than water," suggested
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Si, si, si," agreed the guide, showing his white teeth in an
+approving grin.</p>
+
+<p>"You won't get anything stronger than that in this outfit,
+unless you cook yourself some coffee," muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what's the matter with him," decided Chunky, who had
+been observing the sick man keenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess we drew a prize when we got Juan," announced
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Give him some medicine, anyway," urged Ned. "He is sick&mdash;
+let him take the dose."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him have the worst you've got in your case, Professor,"
+added Tad, with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>A grim smile played about the corners of Professor Zepplin's
+mouth as he ran his fingers over the bottles in his medicine
+case. Finally, selecting one that seemed to fit the particular
+ailment of his patient, he directed Chunky to fetch a spoon.</p>
+
+<p>By this time Juan was protesting volubly that he was "all
+better" and did not need the medicine. The Professor gave no heed
+to the fellow's protestations.</p>
+
+<p>"Open your mouth," he commanded.</p>
+
+<p>Juan shut his teeth tightly together.</p>
+
+<p>"Open your mouth!" commanded the Professor sternly. "We want
+no sick men about this camp. It will fix you in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>But the guide steadfastly refused to separate the white
+teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys, open his mouth while I pour the medicine down him,"
+gritted the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>They required no urging to do the Professor's bidding. Tad and
+Ned ranged themselves on either side of the patient, while Chunky
+sat on the guide's feet. Almost before he was aware of their
+purpose the boys had pried his jaws open and into the opening
+thus made professor Zepplin dropped the concoction he had
+mixed.</p>
+
+<p>The effect was electrical. Juan leaped to his feet as if
+elevated by springs, uttering a yell that might have been heard a
+mile or more on the open plain. But Juan did not run in a circle
+this time. Acting upon the mathematical theory that a straight
+line is the shortest distance between two points, the guide made
+a break for the spring, howling like a madman. The Pony Rider
+Boys looked on in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>Juan fell on his knees before the spring, dipping up the water
+in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you give him, professor?" grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Hot drops!" answered the man of science tersely.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that stuff you fed me when I ate too much honey in the
+Rockies?" questioned Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"The same."</p>
+
+<p>"Wow! I had ten drops and it felt like a pailful when it got
+inside of me."</p>
+
+<p>"How much did you give Juan?" questioned Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty drops," answered Professor Zepplin without the
+suspicion of a smile on his face this time.</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider Boys added their yells to those of the guide,
+only with a difference. The more Juan drank of the spring water,
+the more did the hot drops burn.</p>
+
+<p>All at once he sprang up and started for the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"Catch him!" commanded the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>With a shout the lads started in pursuit. They overhauled the
+guide some twenty rods from camp, he having proved himself fleet
+of foot. Then again, the fire within him perhaps helped to
+increase his natural speed.</p>
+
+<p>"I burn! I burn!" he wailed as the boys grabbed and laughingly
+hustled him back to camp.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll burn worse than that if you ever ask for liquor in
+this outfit," retorted Ned. "We don't use the stuff, nor do we
+allow anyone around us who does."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you feel now?" grinned the Professor as they came up
+to him with their prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"He's got a whole camp-fire in his little estomago," announced
+Chunky solemnly, which sally elicited a loud laugh from the
+boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Give him some olive oil," directed the Professor. "I think
+the lesson has been sufficiently burned into him."</p>
+
+<p>But considerable persuasion was necessary to induce Juan to
+take a spoonful of the Professor's medicine. He had already had
+one sample of it and he did not want another. Yet after some
+urging he tasted of the oil, at first gingerly; then he took it
+down at a gulp.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" he breathed.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it good?" grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Si. Much burn, much burn," he explained, rubbing his
+stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"Think you want some liquor still, Juan, or would you prefer
+another dose of my magic drops?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no, se&ntilde;or!" cried Juan, hastily moving away
+from Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; any time when you feel a longing for strong drink,
+just help yourself to the hot drops," said the Professor,
+striding away to his tent, medicine case in hand.</p>
+
+<p>The guide, a much chastened man, set about assisting in
+getting the evening meal, but the hot drops still remained with
+him, making their presence known by occasional hot twinges.</p>
+
+<p>Supper that night was an enjoyable affair, though it was
+observed that the guide did not eat heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think he really had a pain?" asked Walter
+confidentially, leaning toward Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Pain? No. He wanted something else."</p>
+
+<p>"And he got it," added Stacy, nodding solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>A chorus of "he dids" ran around the table, stopping only when
+they reached Juan himself.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III</h3>
+
+<h4>INDIANS!</h4>
+
+<p>"Juan, did you see two men get off the train at Bluewater
+yesterday when we did? One of them had a big, broad sombrero like
+mine?" asked Tad, riding up beside the guide next day while they
+were crossing the range.</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Know them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si," he replied, holding up one finger.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean you know one of them?"</p>
+
+<p>The guide nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;or Lasar."</p>
+
+<p>"Lasar. What's his other name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Juan not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they stop in the village?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Se&ntilde;ors get ponies, ride over mountain," and the
+guide pointed lazily to the south-west.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did they go? Do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he did not.</p>
+
+<p>"What is Mr. Lasar's business?"</p>
+
+<p>Again the guide answered with a shrug. He seemed disinclined
+to discuss the man in whom Tad Butler was so much interested. Up
+to that time the lad had been too fully occupied with other
+matters to think of the conversation he and Stacy had overheard
+on the Atlantic and Pacific train. Now it came back to him with
+full force.</p>
+
+<p>"Know anybody by the name of Marquand in this country?" he
+asked, taking another tack.</p>
+
+<p>Juan said he did not, and then Tad gave up his
+questioning.</p>
+
+<p>"I was asking Juan about the two men who sat ahead of us in
+the train yesterday," he explained to Chunky, as the fat boy
+joined them.</p>
+
+<p>"Wha'd he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"One is named Lasar, but he did not know the other one. I
+can't help believing that those fellows were plotting to do some
+one a great injury."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I," agreed Chunky. "I guess we had better not say
+anything about it to the others, but we'll try to find out who
+this man Lasar is, and who Mr. Marquand is. Then we'll decide
+what to do next."</p>
+
+<p>Their further conversation was interrupted by the voice of the
+Professor, announcing that they would halt for their noonday
+meal. All other thoughts left the mind of Stacy Brown when the
+question of food was raised. He quickly slipped from his pony,
+running back to hurry the burros along so as to hasten the meal
+for which he was yearning. Only one burro was unpacked, as it was
+the intention of the outfit to push on soon after finishing their
+lunch.</p>
+
+<p>While the guide, under Ned's direction, was making it ready,
+Tad and Chunky strolled off to climb a high rock that they had
+seen in the vicinity and which, they thought, might give them a
+good view of the plains to the southwest on the other side of the
+range.</p>
+
+<p>They had promised to be back in half an hour, but
+circumstances arose that caused them to delay their return
+considerably.</p>
+
+<p>After threshing through the bushes, over sharp rocks and
+through miniature canyons, they gained at last the object of
+their quest. The distance had been further than they had
+imagined.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to make a short trip of it up to the top and
+back," said Tad. "It has taken us almost all our time to get
+here. But we'll have a look, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>They soon gained the top of the rock, which stood some twenty
+feet higher than the crest of the mountain on which it
+rested.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't this great?" exclaimed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Might think we were in the Rockies."</p>
+
+<p>"Or the Ozarks."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope we don't have as much trouble here as we did in that
+range. Our guide is not much better than the Shawnee we had for a
+time on that trip. I can't see the foothills, but the plain on
+beyond is pretty clear."</p>
+
+<p>"Hope we don't have to chase all over the desert for water.
+I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Tad grasped his companion by the sleeve and jerked him
+violently to the rock.</p>
+
+<p>"What's up? What's the matter with you?" protested Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still, some one's coming."</p>
+
+<p>The lad's keen ears had caught a sound which Stacy had
+entirely failed to hear. It was the sound of horses making their
+way through the bushes. There were several in the party, Tad
+could tell by the sounds, and having in mind the man Lasar, he
+thought he might perhaps learn something of advantage by
+remaining quietly on the top of the rock.</p>
+
+<p>All this he explained in a few brief words to his companion.
+Then both boys crouched low, peering over the cliff, having first
+removed their sombreros.</p>
+
+<p>What they saw, a few moments later, surprised them very much
+indeed.</p>
+
+<p>The horsemen in single file suddenly appeared out of a draw to
+the east and headed for the rock where the lads were in
+hiding.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look!" exclaimed Tad in a low, suppressed voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I-n-d-i-a-n-s!" breathed Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>They seemed to rise right up out of the ground, as one by one
+they emerged from the draw to the more level rocks that lay about
+the hiding place of the Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder who they are?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"They look savage. I wonder if they'd hurt us, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I do know, though, that I wouldn't trust those
+ugly faces one second. I thought the Blackfeet were savage, but
+they're not to be compared with these redskins."</p>
+
+<p>A full dozen of them had, by this time, come into view. They
+sat huddled on their ponies, their painted faces just appearing
+above the gayly colored blankets in which they were
+enveloped.</p>
+
+<p>"They must be cold," muttered Chunky. "Shouldn't think they'd
+need bed clothes around them this time of the year."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so loud, Chunky," warned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Know what they are, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't say positively, but somehow they look to me like
+Apaches."</p>
+
+<p>Tad's surmise was correct. The twelve warriors were members of
+the savage band that had in past years caused the Government so
+much trouble and bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>"They're off their reservation, if they are Apaches,"
+whispered the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"What does that indicate, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. They may be on the warpath; then, again, they
+may be down here after game. I'm not sure even, if there is any
+game here. We'll lie still until they get by us. That's the best
+plan; don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Lie perfectly still, Chunky. The little bushes in front of us
+will screen us, providing we don't move about. Indians have quick
+eyes, though they do look as if they were half asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"They're getting off their horses, Tad. What does that
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>Tad peered through the bushes, noting every move that the
+redskins made. At first he thought they had discovered him and
+were about to surround the rock and take him prisoner. But he
+soon saw that such was not their intention. Tethering their
+ponies, the Indians cast their blankets on the ground, after
+having first picked out a suitable place.</p>
+
+<p>"They're making camp," whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>One after another of the savages took out his pipe, and soon
+the odor from burning tobacco was wafted to the nostrils of the
+hidden Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess they're going to get some dinner," decided Stacy,
+observing that the strangers were gathering brush.</p>
+
+<p>This was the case. The ponies had been staked where they could
+browse on the green leaves, and now their masters were about to
+satisfy their own appetites.</p>
+
+<p>Tad groaned.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" questioned Stacy apprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>"They will be here half of the day at least. I know a little
+about Indians, having been captured by them once. The difference
+is that my Indians were in a hurry to get somewhere. These
+fellows seem to have all the time in the world. They're
+waiting&mdash;killing time for some reason. You'll see, after
+they finish their dinner, that they will smoke some more, then
+lie down for a catnap."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;and what'll we be doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be hiding on the top of this rock, Chunky."</p>
+
+<p>"Wish I had my rifle."</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky for both of us that you haven't."</p>
+
+<p>The lads had been talking in whispers, but the words fairly
+froze in their mouths, when, upon glancing down they saw the eyes
+of a savage fixed upon them.</p>
+
+<p>"On your life, don't move a muscle, Chunky," whispered Tad, as
+soon as he had recovered his wits.</p>
+
+<p>Tad was not sure that the Indian saw them, yet there could be
+no doubt that the savage eyes were burning into their very
+own.</p>
+
+<p>Soon, however, the Indian dropped his glances to his pipe bowl
+and the boys breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't move yet, Chunky," directed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>It was a wise command, for almost instantly the Indian glanced
+in their direction again, and, as if satisfied, emptied his pipe
+and stretched out on his blanket. The two lads breathed sighs of
+relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he see us, do you think, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. At first he thought he saw something up here, but he
+changed his mind after a little, as you observed."</p>
+
+<p>By this time the redskins were cooking their midday meal, and
+the odor nearly drove Stacy frantic. It made him realize how
+hungry he was. He pulled a leaf from a bush and began chewing it
+in hopes of wearing off the keen edge of his appetite.</p>
+
+<p>"How long we got to stay here?" he demanded. "I've a good
+notion to get up and walk back to camp. They don't dare hurt
+us."</p>
+
+<p>"Lie still!" commanded his companion sternly. "I have a plan
+that we may be able to put into operation. We can't do it now,
+though."</p>
+
+<p>The lads waited, Tad almost with the patience of an Indian,
+Chunky ill at ease and restless.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you lie still? What ails you?"</p>
+
+<p>"My stomach's fighting my appetite. Hear 'em growl at each
+other?"</p>
+
+<p>"S-h-h-h."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care. I'd 'bout as soon be scalped as to starve to
+death."</p>
+
+<p>The braves had by now filled their stomachs, gulping their
+food down without the formality of chewing it at all. Stacy's
+amazement was partly mixed with admiration as he observed the
+food disappear with such rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>Now the braves had begun puffing at their pipes. After a time,
+one by one laid down his smoking bowl and stretched himself out
+for a nap, just as Tad had said they would. The savages were
+spread out so that they had a very good view of three sides of
+the rock on which the two lads were perched, but the fourth side
+was hidden from them. Tad decided that, as the Indians showed no
+intention of moving, they were going to remain where they were
+until night.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to follow me, Chunky," Butler said, determined to
+try his plan. "You will have to move absolutely without a sound.
+Look before you put down foot or hand. Be sure where you place
+them. We'll wait a few minutes until they're sound asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"What you going to do&mdash;sneak?"</p>
+
+<p>"Try to get back to camp. The others will be coming along
+looking for us pretty soon, if we don't get away. The Indians
+might resent being disturbed, and perhaps make trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me when you're ready, then."</p>
+
+<p>Some minutes had elapsed and the lads could plainly hear the
+snores of their besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>"Now!" whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time he began crawling toward the edge of the rock
+at their rear. Stacy was close upon his heels.</p>
+
+<p>The side which the boys were to descend was much more
+precipitous than the one they had come up by, but offered no very
+great difficulties for two nimble boys. Proceeding with infinite
+caution, they gained the ground without a mishap.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll walk straight on in this direction, until we get out of
+sight; then we can turn to the left and hurry to the camp."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy nodded. As he did so his eyes were off the ground for a
+few seconds. Those few seconds proved his undoing.</p>
+
+<p>The lad stepped on a stone that gave way under him, turning
+his ankle almost upon its side.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch!" yelled Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you've done it," snapped Tad. "We'll have the whole pack
+of them down on us. Can you walk?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I don't know. I'll try."</p>
+
+<p>"Take hold of my hand. You've got to run."</p>
+
+<p>The redskins were on their feet in an instant. A few bounds
+carried them around the rock whence the exclamation had come. By
+this time Tad had dragged his companion into the bushes but not
+quickly enough to elude the keen eyes of the savages.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians uttered a short, sharp cry, then aimed their
+rifles at the figures of the two fleeing Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>Tad saw the movement. He threw himself prone upon the ground,
+jerking Chunky down beside him.</p>
+
+<p>They were screened from the eyes of the enemy, for the
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Crawl! Crawl!" commanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>On hands and feet the boys began running rapidly over the
+ground, on down into a narrow gulch. If they could gain the
+opposite side they would be safe, as it was unlikely that the
+Indians would follow them there. To do so, the boys were obliged
+to cross an open space. They had just reached it, when their
+pursuers appeared behind them. Once more the Indians raised their
+rifles, their fingers exerting a gentle pressure on the
+triggers.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV</h3>
+
+<h4>ON THE TRAIL OF JUAN</h4>
+
+<p>"Look out! They're going to shoot!" cried Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The lads quickly rolled in opposite directions.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo-o, Tad!"</p>
+
+<p>The call was in the stentorian voice of Professor Zepplin, to
+which Ned Rector added a shout of his own.</p>
+
+<p>Fearing that some ill had befallen Tad and Stacy, the others
+had started out after them. Following them came Walter and the
+lazy Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"We're down here! Look out for the Indians!" warned Tad in a
+loud voice.</p>
+
+<p>"You're crazy!" jeered Ned. "Come out of that. What ails you
+fellows? The dinner's stone cold and Professor Zepplin is all in
+the stew."</p>
+
+<p>Tad scrambled to his feet, with a quick glance at the top of
+the ridge, where, but a moment before, half a dozen rifles had
+been leveled at Chunky and himself.</p>
+
+<p>Not an Indian was in sight. Tad was amazed. He could not
+understand it. Grabbing Stacy by an arm he hurried him up the
+other side of the gulch, where they quickly joined their
+companions.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" demanded the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry! We must get out of this. It's Indians!"</p>
+
+<p>"They&mdash;they wanted to scalp us," interjected Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"But you runned away, eh? Brave man!" chuckled Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Indians! There are no Indians here.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you about it when we get to camp. They were just
+about to shoot at us when you appeared up here."</p>
+
+<p>"'Pache bad Injun," vouchsafed Juan.</p>
+
+<p>"Were those Apaches?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The guide shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I was sure they were, though I do not think I ever saw an
+Apache before. They don't live about here, do they, Juan?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Pache off reservation. Him go dance. Firewater! Ugh!" making
+a motion as if scalping himself.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm hungry," called Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; so am I," added Tad. "But I think we had better not wait
+to eat. We can take a bite in the saddle while we are
+moving."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy protested loudly at this, but Tad's judgment prevailed
+with the Professor, after the boys had related their experience
+in detail. All hands began at once to pack up the few belongings
+that had been taken from the burro, and once more they started on
+their way, moving somewhat more rapidly than had been the case in
+the early part of the day.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose there will be much use in our hurrying,
+Professor," said the lad, after they had been going a short time.
+"I know enough about Indians to be sure those fellows will follow
+us until they satisfy themselves who and what we are. They are up
+to some mischief, and they thought we were spying on them.
+Otherwise, I do not believe they would have tried to shoot us.
+Don't know as you could blame them much."</p>
+
+<p>"I am inclined to agree with you, Master Tad. It will be good
+policy not to pay any attention to them if we discover any of
+them. Just go right along about our business as if we didn't see
+them at all."</p>
+
+<p>"And you're not likely to," grinned Tad. "Where did you say
+they were going, Juan?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Pache, go dance."</p>
+
+<p>"He means they're bound for a pow-wow somewhere. That explains
+it," nodded the lad.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the day passed without incident. Not a sign of the
+Indians did the boys see. As a matter of fact, the roving
+redskins were as anxious to keep out of the sight of the Pony
+Riders as the boys were to have them do so.</p>
+
+<p>The party enjoyed the trip over the mountains immensely; and,
+when, a few days later, they made camp in the foothills on the
+southern side of the Zuni range, the boys declared that they had
+never had a better time.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin decided that they would remain in that camp
+for a couple of days, as he desired to make some scientific
+investigations and collect geological specimens. This suited the
+rest of the party, who were free to make as many side trips as
+they wished, into mountain fastnesses or over the plains to the
+south of them.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the day the guide asked permission to go away for an
+hour or so. They noticed that he had been uneasy, apparently
+anxious to get away for some reason unknown to them.</p>
+
+<p>"He's got something up his sleeve," decided Tad, eyeing Juan
+narrowly.</p>
+
+<p>"You may go, but we shall expect you back in time for the noon
+meal," the Professor told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me money," requested the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Let me see, you have worked a week. I gave you
+five dollars when we started out. You were to have ten dollars a
+week while you were with us. That leaves five dollars due you,"
+announced the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Me work week. Me want ten dollars."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my man, I've already paid you five dollars, which pays
+you for half of the week. Here is the five dollars for the other
+half. That's all I owe you. Do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si se&ntilde;or. But Juan work one week," protested the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me show him," interrupted Tad. He drew ten marks in the
+sand with a stick, separating them into two groups of five. "Here
+are ten marks, Juan. We'll call them ten dollars.
+Understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here are the first five marks in the dirt that the
+Professor paid you. How many does that leave?"</p>
+
+<p>"Five," gleamed the white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"Right. Go to the head of the class," interrupted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky, you keep out of this. You'll mix him up."</p>
+
+<p>"Guess somebody's mixed up already," retorted the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Five is right," continued Tad. "Five dollars is what we owe
+you. Is that clear now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or. But I work one week. Juan earn ten
+dollar&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what to do," interjected Ned. "Start all over
+again. You begin work to-day; Juan, and we'll pay you ten dollars
+for every week from now on. You haven't worked for us before
+to-day, you know."</p>
+
+<p>The lads laughed heartily, but Juan merely showed his teeth,
+protesting that he had earned ten dollars.</p>
+
+<p>"Here," said Tad, thrusting a five dollar bill at him. "You
+take this. It's all we owe you. If you see any of your friends,
+you ask them how much we owe you. They'll tell you the Professor
+is right."</p>
+
+<p>Juan took the money greedily, still protesting that they owed
+him ten dollars, because he had worked a week. Mounting his
+burro, he rode away; at once falling into the marvelous speed
+that he had shown them on the first day out.</p>
+
+<p>The lads shouted with laughter as they saw burro and rider
+disappear among the foothills, both running for all they were
+worth, Juan uttering his shrill "yi-yi's," as he pedaled the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>That was the last they saw of the Mexican guide that day. The
+rest of the day was employed in games, trick riding, rope
+throwing and the like. Stacy found some horned frogs, which were
+of considerable interest to the boys. Chunky made the discovery
+that the frogs liked to have their backs scratched with a stick,
+and the frogs of the foothills probably never spent such a happy
+day in all their lives as Chunky and his stick provided for them
+that afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the day, it dawned upon the boys that Juan was still
+absent. They consulted with the Professor about this, upon his
+return from a collecting trip along the foot of the mountains.
+But the Professor was sure Juan would be in in time for
+supper.</p>
+
+<p>Such was not the case, however. After the meal had been
+finished Tad announced his intention of riding off in the
+direction Juan had gone, to see if the guide could not be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go with you," announced Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"All right; come along," said Tad, tightening his saddle
+girths. "We'll have a fine gallop."</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful that you do not get lost, boys," warned the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't get lost. All we have to do is to follow the foothills.
+We shall probably find Juan and his burro sound asleep on an
+ant-hill somewhere. He's positively the laziest human being I
+ever set eyes on."</p>
+
+<p>"Better take along five dollars to bait him with," suggested
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got my stick," said Stacy. "I'll tickle the back of the
+burro and its rider, just as I did the frogs."</p>
+
+<p>"You try that on the burro and he'll kick you into the middle
+of next week," warned Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," laughed Tad. "Did you see him kick when Juan tossed a
+tomato can against his heels this morning? Kicked the can clear
+over a tree and out of sight."</p>
+
+<p>"He'd make a good batter for the Chillicothe baseball team,"
+suggested Chunky. "He'd be the only real batter in the nine. They
+could turn him loose on the umpire when they didn't need him on
+the diamond. Wouldn't it be funny to see some umpires kicked over
+the high board fence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come along if you are going with me."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy swung into his saddle, and, galloping off, caught up
+with Tad, who was in a hurry to get back to camp before dark.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep your eyes to the right, Chunky, and I'll look on the
+left. If you see anything that looks like a lazy Mexican and a
+lazy burro, just call out."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll run over them, that's what I'll do," declared the fat
+boy. "Hello, there's a fellow on horseback."</p>
+
+<p>"I see him."</p>
+
+<p>The lads changed their course a little so as to head off the
+solitary horseman, who was loping along in something of a
+hurry.</p>
+
+<p>"Howdy," greeted the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"Evening, stranger. Where you hail from and where to?"</p>
+
+<p>"We're in camp back here. I'm looking for our guide, a Mexican
+named Juan. He went away this morning and we haven't seen him
+since."</p>
+
+<p>"And you won't so long as his money holds out," laughed the
+horseman.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, you've seen him? Will you tell me where I may find
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure thing, boy, but I reckon you'd better not be going any
+further?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's over yonder, gambling with some renegade Apaches."</p>
+
+<p>"Apaches!" exclaimed the lads in one voice. "Those must be the
+same fellows we saw up in the range. But how do you suppose he
+knew they were over there?"</p>
+
+<p>"He? Those Greasers know everything except what they ought to
+know&mdash;especially if there's any games of chance going
+on."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please tell me how we can reach the place? We want
+to make a very early start in the morning, and I don't like to
+take a chance of his not getting back in time."</p>
+
+<p>"If ye're bound to go, keep right along the edge of the
+foothills. You can't miss the place. Better keep away if you
+don't want to be getting into a mix-up. There's going to be
+lively doings over there pretty soon," warned the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean? I've seen Indians before. Guess they won't
+hurt us if they let Juan pow-wow with them."</p>
+
+<p>"This is different, young man. They're going to hold a fire
+dance to-night&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A fire dance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought they weren't allowed to do that any more?"</p>
+
+<p>"They ain't, but they will. There's a bunch of Sabobas from
+over the line. They're the original fire eaters. They come over
+here kind of secret like. Then there's Pueblos, 'Paches, and bad
+ones from every tribe within a hundred miles of here. Been making
+smoke signals from the mountains for more'n a week
+past&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw that yesterday and thought it was intended as a
+signal."</p>
+
+<p>"Right."</p>
+
+<p>"But you don't think there will be any danger in just going
+after our guide, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Boy, they'll be letting blood before morning, even if the
+Government doesn't drop down on the picnic and clean out the
+whole bunch of them. There is sure to be trouble before
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Tad, touching his pony;</p>
+
+<p>"Going on?" questioned the horseman.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I'm going to fetch Juan," replied Tad, touching spurs to
+his pony and galloping away, followed by Stacy Brown.</p>
+
+<p>The horseman sat his saddle watching the receding forms of the
+two Pony Rider Boys until they disappeared behind a butte in the
+foothills.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if those kids ain't got the sand!" he muttered.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V</h3>
+
+<h4>A DARING ACT</h4>
+
+<p>"If you don't want to go with me you may go back, Chunky.
+Perhaps one would not be as likely to get into trouble as two.
+You can find your way, can't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I go back? Think I'm a tenderfoot? Huh! Guess I ain't afraid
+of any cheap Wild West Indians. I'm going with you, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; but see to it that you keep in the background. You
+have a habit of getting into trouble on the slightest
+provocation."</p>
+
+<p>"So do you," retorted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>The ponies had been urged to their best pace by this time.
+Twilight had fallen and darkness would settle over them in a very
+short time now, though a new moon hovered pale and weak in the
+blue sky above. Tad knew this, so he did not worry about the
+return trip.</p>
+
+<p>"We should be sighting the place pretty soon," he
+muttered.</p>
+
+<p>"I see a light," announced Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the right. Over that low butte there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's so. I see it now. You have sharp eyes," laughed
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I can see when there's anything to see."</p>
+
+<p>"And eat when there's food to be had," added Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Think those are the Indians that wanted to shoot us, Tad?" he
+asked, with a trace of apprehension in his voice.</p>
+
+<p>Tad glanced at his companion keenly;</p>
+
+<p>"Getting cold feet, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"No!" roared the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," grinned Tad. "I didn't mean to insult
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Better not. Look out that you don't get chilblains on your
+own feet. May need a hot mustard bath yourself before you get
+through."</p>
+
+<p>They rounded the butte. A full quarter of a mile ahead of them
+flickered a large fire, with several smaller blazes twinkling
+here and there about it. Shadowy figures were observed moving
+back and forth, some with rapid movements, others in slow,
+methodical steps.</p>
+
+<p>"There must be a lot of them, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"Looks that way. I wonder where we shall find the guide."</p>
+
+<p>Both boys fell silent for a time, and as they drew nearer to
+the scene pulled their ponies down to a walk. Tad concluded to
+make a detour half way round the camp in order to get a clump of
+bushes that he had observed between them and the redskins. From
+that point of vantage he would be able to get a closer view, and
+perhaps locate the man for whom he was looking.</p>
+
+<p>Riding in, they were soon swallowed up in the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold my pony a moment," directed Tad, slipping to the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nowhere, just this minute. I'm going to look around."</p>
+
+<p>The lad peered through the bushes until, uttering a low
+exclamation, he turned to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"I see him. He's over on the other side&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who? Juan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Now I want you to remain right here. Don't move away.
+I'll tie my pony so he won't give you any trouble. Sit perfectly
+quiet, and if any Indians come along don't bother them. I'm going
+around the outside, so I don't have to pass through the crowd,
+though they seem too busy to notice anyone."</p>
+
+<p>Tad slipped away in the shadows until he came to a spot
+opposite where he had caught a glimpse of the lazy Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>He discovered Juan in the center of a circle of dusky Indians
+who were squatting on the ground. Some of the braves were clothed
+in nondescript garments, while others were attired in gaudy
+blankets. These were the gamblers.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment their efforts were concentrated on winning from
+Juan the wages of his first week's work with the Pony Rider Boys.
+A blanket had been spread over the ground, and on this they were
+wagering small amounts on the throw of the dice, a flickering
+camp-fire near by dimly lighting up the blanket and making the
+reading of the dice a difficult matter for any but the keenest of
+eyes. The sing-song calls of the players added to the weirdness
+of the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Tad waited long enough to observe that the guide lost nearly
+every time, the stolid-faced red men raking in his coins with
+painful regularity.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a wonder he has a cent left. But they're not playing for
+very large amounts, as near as I can tell."</p>
+
+<p>Each time the Mexican lost he would utter a shrill "si, si,"
+then lured by the hope that Dame Fortune would favor him, reached
+greedily for the next throw.</p>
+
+<p>"It's time for me to do something," muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Stepping boldly from his cover, he walked up to the edge of
+the circle.</p>
+
+<p>"Juan!" he called sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Si," answered the Mexican, without looking up.</p>
+
+<p>"Juan!"</p>
+
+<p>This time the word was uttered in a more commanding voice.</p>
+
+<p>"You come with me!"</p>
+
+<p>The guide, oblivious to all beyond the terrible fascination of
+the game he was playing, gave no heed to Tad Butler's stern
+command. Three times did Tad call to him, but without result. One
+of the red men cast an angry glance in the Tad's direction, and
+then returned to his play.</p>
+
+<p>Without an instant's hesitation, Tad sprang over into the
+center of the circle, and grasping Juan by an ear, jerked him to
+his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Red hands fell to belts and dark faces scowled menacingly at
+the intruder.</p>
+
+<p>"You come with me, Juan!"</p>
+
+<p>Juan sought to jerk away, but under the strong pull on his
+ear, he did not find it advisable to force himself from his
+captor's grip.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You're lucky if
+Professor Zepplin doesn't give you another dose of hot drops for
+this. I suppose these Indians sat down to rob you," growled
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no," protested Juan.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the Indian gamblers had leaped to their feet, an
+ugly light in their eyes that boded ill for the Pony Rider Boy
+who had interrupted them in the process of fleecing the
+Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>With one accord they barred the way in a solid human wall. Tad
+found himself hemmed in on all sides. It had been easy to gain an
+entrance to the circle, but getting out of it was another
+matter.</p>
+
+<p>"This man belongs to me," he said with as much courage in his
+tone as he was able to command. "You will please step aside and
+let us go. You're breaking the law. If you offer any resistance
+I'll have the government officers after you in short order."</p>
+
+<p>He could not have said a worse thing under the circumstances.
+At first they took him for a spy, possibly a Government spy. Now
+they were sure of it, for had not the lad told them so
+himself?</p>
+
+<p>With a growl, one who appeared to be the most important
+personage in the group drew his sheath knife and sprang straight
+at the slender figure of Tad Butler.</p>
+
+<p>Tad acted without an instant's hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>Stepping aside quickly; he cleverly avoided the knife-thrust.
+At the same instant, while the Indian was off his balance, not
+yet having recovered from the lunge, the Pony Rider Boy's fist
+and the Indian's jaw met in sudden collision.</p>
+
+<p>The impact of the blow might have been heard more than a rod
+away.</p>
+
+<p>The red man's blanket dropped from his shoulders; he staggered
+backward, made a supreme effort to pull himself together, then
+dropped in a heap at the feet of the boy who had felled him.</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting for the astonished red gamblers to recover
+their wits, Tad grasped an arm of the Mexican and sprang away
+into the bushes.</p>
+
+<p>He had done a serious thing, even though in self-protection.
+He had knocked down an Apache brave with his fist. The sting of
+that blow would rest upon the savage jaw until the insult was
+wiped out by the victim himself.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI</h3>
+
+<h4>THE FIRE DANCE OF THE RED MEN</h4>
+
+<p>The Indians made a sudden move to pursue the lad who had done
+so daring a thing. One of their number restrained them, pointing
+to the fallen brave, as much as to say, "Revenge is for
+<i>him!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>With a shrug of their shoulders the Indians sank down and
+resumed their game as stoically as before. They gave no further
+heed to the unconscious Apache, who still lay just outside the
+circle where he had been knocked out by Tad's blow.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry! Hurry!" commanded the lad, fairly dragging his
+companion along. "They'll be after us in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>Yet before the minute had elapsed Tad had halted suddenly, his
+wondering eyes fixed upon the scene that was being enacted before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>About a pit of red hot coals, naked save for the breech clouts
+they wore, swayed the bodies of half-a-dozen powerful braves.</p>
+
+<p>They were the fire dancers and Tad was gazing upon a scene
+that probably never will be seen again in this country&mdash;the
+last of the fire dances&mdash;a secret dance of which it was to
+be supposed the Government agents knew nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Back and forth waved the copper-colored line, right up to the
+edge of the pit of glowing coals, uttering a weird chant, which
+was taken up by others who were not in the dance.</p>
+
+<p>The voices of the chanters grew louder, their excitement waxed
+higher, as the thrill of song and dance pulsed through their
+veins.</p>
+
+<p>All at once, Tad was horrified to see one of the dancers leap
+into the air, uttering a mighty shriek. While still clear of the
+ground the dancer's body turned, then he dove head first into the
+bed of hot coals. He was out in an instant.</p>
+
+<p>The chant rose higher as the remaining dancers followed the
+leader into the burning pit and out of it. So quickly did they
+move that they seemed not to feel the heat, and from Tad's point
+of vantage, he was sure that none was burned in the
+slightest.</p>
+
+<p>Juan tried to pull away. But Tad held him in a firm grip.</p>
+
+<p>Now that the dancers had passed through the fire unscathed,
+others followed them, some no more than touching the live coals,
+then bounding out on the other side of the pit; others remaining
+long enough to roll swiftly across the glowing bed.</p>
+
+<p>Excitement was rapidly waxing higher and higher. The red men
+were in a dangerous mood. It boded ill for the paleface who
+sought to interfere with their carnival at this moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Come!" whispered Tad in a low, tense voice. "We've got to get
+out of this mighty quick! Chunky's probably half scared to death,
+too."</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not go far. He had scarcely taken half a dozen steps
+when a frenzied yell, a series of shrill shrieks sounded in the
+air. The sounds seemed to come from all directions at once.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Me not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody's running a pony. I hear it coming. It's headed
+right for that bunch of crazy savages. Probably an Indian gone
+mad."</p>
+
+<p>It was not an Indian who was the cause of this new
+disturbance, as the lad discovered almost immediately
+afterward.</p>
+
+<p>"Yip, yip! Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!"</p>
+
+<p>The yells were uttered in the shrill voice of Stacy Brown.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Chunky!" groaned Tad. "Here's trouble in earnest!"</p>
+
+<p>They never knew just how it happened, and Chunky could not
+tell them, but in all probability the excitement had been too
+much for the fat boy!</p>
+
+<p>He had moved closer when the dancing began, and the fever of
+it got into his veins until his excitement had reached a pitch
+beyond his control.</p>
+
+<p>With a series of howls and yells, the fat boy drove the rowels
+of the spurs deep into his pony's aides.</p>
+
+<p>The animal dashed forward at a break-neck pace.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy headed straight for the glowing pit, yelling with every
+leap of the pony.</p>
+
+<p>Tad gazed spellbound. He seemed powerless to move. He had been
+deeply affected by the scenes he had seen; but this was
+different. The lad held his breath.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the edge of the pit, Stacy's pony rose in the air,
+clearing the bed of coals in a long, curving leap.</p>
+
+<p>Two red men had just risen from their fiery bath. The hind
+hoofs of the pony caught and bowled them over.</p>
+
+<p>"Run to the camp and get help! Take my pony! Ride for your
+life! Don't lose a second!" gasped Tad, giving the lazy Mexican a
+shove that sent him stumbling until he had measured his length
+upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Juan picked himself up slowly; and, crawling away into the
+bushes, lay down to rest or hide.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's pony landed fairly in the center of a bunch of
+half-clothed savages; some of whom went down under the pony when
+it landed on them so unexpectedly.</p>
+
+<p>The next instant the fat boy had been jerked from the animal's
+back, to which he was clinging desperately.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell the redskins hurled him toward the fire. But the
+force of the throw had not been quite strong enough. Stacy landed
+on the edge of the pit, rolling half into it, the upper part of
+his body being on the ground to which he was hanging, yelling
+lustily. His shod feet were in the fire, however, but as yet he
+did not realize that his clothes were burning.</p>
+
+<p>Tad Butler sprang quickly from his hiding place.</p>
+
+<p>"Crawl out!" he roared. "You'll be burned alive!"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I can't. I fell in," piped Stacy, all his bravery
+gone now.</p>
+
+<p>Tad leaped across the intervening space and bounded to the
+side of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch! I'm on fire!" shrieked Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>Tad grabbed and hauled him from his dangerous position. One of
+Tad's feet slipped in while he was doing so. By this time the
+clothes of both lads had begun to smoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Run for it! Better be burned than scalped!" shouted Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Holding to Chunky's arm the Pony Rider Boy started to run. He
+was tripped by a moccasined foot before they had gone ten feet.
+Both boys fell headlong. Ere they could rise half a dozen mad
+savages were upon them.</p>
+
+<p>The lads were jerked roughly to their feet, Chunky shivering,
+Tad pale but resolute. There was nothing that he could say or do
+to repair the damage that his companion had done.</p>
+
+<p>One whom the lad took to be a chief, from his head-dress and
+commanding appearance, pushed his way into the crowd about the
+two boys, hurling the red men aside with reckless sweeps of his
+powerful arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh!" he grunted, folding his arms and gazing sternly at the
+two prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>"Who you?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad explained as best he could.</p>
+
+<p>"Why you do this?"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend here got excited," Tad declared.</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! Lie!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad's face burned. He could scarcely resist the impulse to
+resent the imputation that the savage had cast upon him. He
+conquered the inclination with an effort.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, we had no wish to interfere with you. We came here to
+get one of our men who had come here to gamble. If you will
+release us we will return to our camp and give you no further
+trouble. I promise you that."</p>
+
+<p>"T-h-h-h-at's so," chattered Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still," whispered Tad. "You'll get us into more
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>The chief appeared to be debating the question in his own
+mind, when one of the men, whom Tad recognized as a member of the
+gambling circle, whispered something to the chief.</p>
+
+<p>The chief's eyes blazed. Uttering a succession of gutteral
+sounds, he gave some quick directions to the red men near
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"He makes a noise like a litter of pigs," muttered Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>Acting upon the chief's direction two braves grabbed the lads,
+and hurried them away, Tad meanwhile watching for an opportunity
+to break away. Had he been alone, he felt sure he could do so
+safely. But he would not leave his companion, of course.</p>
+
+<p>The Apaches took the boys a short distance from the camp,
+planked them down roughly with their backs to a rock.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I wonder what next?" muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>While one of the braves stood guard over them, the second
+trotted back to the camp, returning after a few minutes with a
+third savage who carried a rifle.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were sure then that they were to be shot.</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! You run, brave shoot um!" warned one of the first pair,
+after which parting injunction the two captors strode away,
+leaving their companion to guard the boys.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments the Indian walked up and down in front of
+them, keeping his eyes fixed on the lads. Tad noted that he
+walked rather unsteadily. Finally, the guard sat down facing
+them, some ten feet away.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've certainly gone and done it this time, Chunky,"
+said Tad in a low voice. "What on earth made you do a crazy thing
+like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's too late for regrets. All we can do will be to
+make the best of our situation and watch for an opportunity to
+get away."</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes the boys sat gazing at the stolid figure
+before them. Tad's mind was working, though his body was not.</p>
+
+<p>"Make believe you're going to sleep, but don't overdo it,"
+whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>This was something that Stacy could do, and he did it with
+such naturalness that Tad could not repress a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"That Indian is dazed from his excitement, and if we make him
+think we're asleep he's likely to relax his vigilance," mused
+Tad, as the two boys gradually leaned closer together, soon to
+all appearances being wrapped in sleep. Little by little the
+Indian's head nodded.</p>
+
+<p>Finally he toppled over to one side, the rifle lying across
+his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Tad and Chunky remained motionless.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian snored.</p>
+
+<p>The boys waited. Soon the snores became regular. The moment
+for action had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>Tad pinched Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! Wat'cher want?"</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy had in reality been asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness sake, keep quiet!" begged Tad in a whisper.
+"Don't you know there's an Indian with a gun guarding us? He's
+asleep. Come, but be quiet if you value your life at all. Anyway;
+remember that I want to save mine."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy was wide awake now. Together the lads crawled cautiously
+away, every nerve on the alert. Over by the pit of live coals the
+uproar was, if any thing, louder than before.</p>
+
+<p>The boys gave that part of the camp a wide berth.</p>
+
+<p>"Now get up and run!" commanded Tad. "Raise your feet off the
+ground, so that you won't fall over every pebble you come
+to."</p>
+
+<p>Tad and Chunky clasped hands and scurried through the bushes,
+making as little noise as possible, and rapidly putting
+considerable distance between them and the sleeping red man who
+had been set to watch them.</p>
+
+<p>"Having lots of fun, ain't we, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fun! You're lucky if you get off with a whole
+scalp&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" exclaimed Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>The lads brought up suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>At first they were not sure what had disturbed them, that is,
+Tad was not. This time Stacy had seen more clearly than his
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh!" grunted a voice right in front of them, and there
+before their amazed eyes stood an Indian. To their imaginations,
+he was magnified until he appeared nearly as tall as the moonlit
+mountains in the background.</p>
+
+<p>For one hesitating instant the lads stood staring at the
+figure looming over them.</p>
+
+<p>With an angry growl the red man bounded toward them. He had
+recognized the boys and was determined that they should not
+escape him.</p>
+
+<p>It was Stacy Brown's wits that saved the situation this time.
+As the Indian came at them the fat boy dived between the savage's
+naked legs, uttering a short, sharp yelp, for all the world just
+like that of a small dog attempting to frighten off a bigger
+antagonist.</p>
+
+<p>There could be only one result following Chunky's unexpected
+tactics. Mr. Redskin flattened himself on the ground prone upon
+his face. Somehow the fellow was slightly stunned by the fall,
+not having had time to save himself from a violent bump on the
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Run for it, Chunky! He'll be after us in a second."</p>
+
+<p>The lads made a lively sprint for the open. In a moment,
+observing that they were not being followed, they halted, still
+in the shadows of the bushes. All at once Tad stumbled over an
+object in the dark. At first he thought it was another Indian,
+and both boys were about to run again, when the voice of the
+prostrate man caused them to laugh instead.</p>
+
+<p>"Si, si, se&ntilde;or," muttered the fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"Juan? It's Juan! Get up! You here yet?"</p>
+
+<p>They pulled the lazy guide to his feet, starting off with him,
+when all at once Tad happened to think that one of the ponies was
+back there somewhere among the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>"You stay here, and don't make a fool of yourself this time!"
+commanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"After your pony. You hang on to Juan. I'll hold you
+responsible for him, Chunky."</p>
+
+<p>"Guess I can take care of a lazy Mexican if I can floor a
+redskin," answered Stacy proudly.</p>
+
+<p>But Tad was off. He had not heard the last remark of his
+companion. In picking his way carefully around the camp to where
+he had seen a lot of ponies tethered, Tad found a Navajo blanket.
+He quickly possessed himself of it, throwing it over his head,
+wrapping himself in its folds.</p>
+
+<p>He was now in plain sight of the wild antics of the dancers,
+who, still mad with the excitement of the hour, were performing
+all manner of weird movements. For a moment, the lad squatted
+down to watch them. He had been there but a short time when a
+voice at his side startled him, and Tad was about to take a fresh
+sprint when he realized that it was not the voice of a
+savage.</p>
+
+<p>"Young man, you'd better light out of here while you've got
+the chance," said the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Turning sharply, Tad discovered a man, who, like himself, was
+wrapped in a gaudy blanket. He was unable to see the man's face,
+which was hidden under the Navajo.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" demanded the lad sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm an Indian agent. I only got wind of this proposed fire
+dance late this afternoon. These men will all be punished unless
+they return to their reservations peaceably. If they do, they
+will be let go with a warning."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they know you're here?"</p>
+
+<p>"They? Not much," laughed the agent.</p>
+
+<p>"But supposing they ask you a question?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can talk all the different tribal languages represented
+here. You'd better go now. Where are you from?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad explained briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you have had a narrow escape tonight. If they catch you
+again they'll make short work of you."</p>
+
+<p>"They won't catch me. Thank you and good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go that way. Strike straight back; then you will have
+an open course."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going after my companion's pony. I think I know where to
+find it," answered Tad, wrapping the blanket about himself and
+stealing across an open moonlit space without attracting
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian agent watched him curiously for a moment; then he
+rose and followed quickly after Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"That boy is either a fool&mdash;which I don't think&mdash;or
+else he doesn't know the meaning of the word 'fear.'"</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not find Stacy's pony where he had expected. Indian
+ponies were tethered all about, singly and in groups, while here
+and there one was left to graze where it would.</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of a looking pony is yours?" questioned the agent,
+coming up to him.</p>
+
+<p>"A roan."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I think I know where he is. He was not like the horses
+in this vicinity, which attracted my attention to him."</p>
+
+<p>The agent led the way, in a roundabout course, to the south
+side of the camp, where they began looking over the animals.
+Occasionally a redskin would pass them, but no one gave either
+the slightest heed.</p>
+
+<p>"Here he is," whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Lead him off. Don't mount just yet."</p>
+
+<p>Tad did as the agent had suggested. But all at once something
+happened. Tad's blanket had dropped from his shoulders, revealing
+him in his true colors. An Indian uttered a yell. Tad sprang into
+his saddle and put spurs to the pony. In a moment more than a
+dozen redskins had mounted and started yelling after him,
+believing he was stealing a pony.</p>
+
+<p>Tad headed away to the south to give his companions a chance
+to get out of the way, and the savages came in full cry after
+him.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII</h3>
+
+<h4>FLEEING FROM THE ENEMY</h4>
+
+<p>A shrill cry was wafted to the boy.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments Tad realized that they were no longer on
+his trail. He knew the cry had been a signal, warning them to
+halt. What he did not know, however, was that the Indian agent
+had been responsible for the signal; that he in all probability
+had saved the boy's life.</p>
+
+<p>The lad, after satisfying himself that the Indians had
+abandoned the chase, at once circled about, coming back to the
+point where he had left Chunky and the Mexican. They were both
+there waiting for him.</p>
+
+<p>"What was all that row?" demanded the fat boy. "We were having
+a little horse race, that's all," grinned Tad grimly; "Hurry
+along, now."</p>
+
+<p>They reached their own camp in safety an hour later. The two
+boys had much to relate, and as the narration proceeded,
+Professor Zepplin shook his head disapprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Young gentlemen, much as I have enjoyed this summer's outing,
+it's a wonder I haven't had nervous prostration long before this.
+It'll be a load off my mind if I get you all back in Chillicothe
+without anything serious happening to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I think," suggested Tad, "that we had better strike camp at
+once and move on. The moon is shining brightly, and Juan ought to
+have no trouble in leading the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that will be an excellent idea. You think they may give
+as further trouble?" questioned the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"They may before morning. They're getting more ugly every
+minute."</p>
+
+<p>"Everything worth while seems to happen when I am not around,"
+protested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Good thing you weren't along," replied Stacy. "You'd been
+scared stiff. It was no place for tenderfeet."</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you call me a tenderfoot?" snapped Ned, starting
+for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop quarreling, you two!" commanded Tad. "We've had all the
+fighting we want for one night. Get busy and help strike this
+camp. Guess none of this outfit could truthfully be called a
+tenderfoot. We've all had our share of hard knocks, and we'll
+have enough to look back to and think about when we get home and
+have time to go over our experiences together this winter."</p>
+
+<p>The thought, that at any minute the half-crazed savages might
+sweep down on them hastened the preparations for departure. The
+Pony Rider Boys never struck camp more quickly than they did in
+the soft southern moonlight that night.</p>
+
+<p>All at once Juan set up a wail.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it&mdash;what's the trouble now?" demanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"My burro. I go for him."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll do nothing of the sort. You'll walk, or ride a pack
+animal," answered Stacy. "You don't deserve to have a burro."</p>
+
+<p>"Here's his old burro now," called Walter, as a shambling
+object, much the worse for wear, came stumbling sleepily into
+camp.</p>
+
+<p>The boys set up a shout that was quickly checked by Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"If the burro can find the way what do you think an Indian
+could do, fellows?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," agreed Professor Zepplin. "We had better keep
+quiet&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And hit the trail as fast as possible," added Tad. "Daylight
+must find us a long ways from here."</p>
+
+<p>"And ride all night&mdash;is that what you mean?" complained
+Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it'll give you an appetite for breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got one already."</p>
+
+<p>"That goes without saying," agreed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, Juan!" urged Tad, observing that the guide was
+doing nothing more in the way of work than rubbing the nose of
+his prodigal burro. "Aren't you going to help us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; what do you think we're paying you good American dollars
+for?" demanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I think some of the Professor's hot drops would be good for
+what ails him," observed Stacy Brown. "I'll get the Professor to
+give him a dose right now."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no! Juan no want fire drops."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; get busy, then."</p>
+
+<p>He did. Not since the last dose of the Professor's medicine
+had he shown such activity. Very soon after that the camp had
+been struck and the party was ready to take up its journey.</p>
+
+<p>Tad took a last look about, to make sure that nothing had been
+left.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll put out the fire," he said, tossing the bridle
+reins to Stacy, while he ran over to the dying camp-fire, whose
+embers he kicked apart, stamping them out one by one. "No use
+leaving a trail like that for any prowling redskin."</p>
+
+<p>They were quickly under way after that, Juan leading the way
+without the least hesitancy. He and the burro worked together
+like a piece of automatic machinery.</p>
+
+<p>"He might better walk and lead the burro," said Stacy, who had
+been observing their peculiar method of locomotion. "Should think
+it would be easier."</p>
+
+<p>The moon was dropping slowly westward, and the party was using
+it for a guide, keeping the silver ball sharply to their right.
+Juan on the other hand had hitched his lazy chariot to a
+star.</p>
+
+<p>By this star he was laying his course to the southward. The
+Pony Rider Boys enjoyed their moonlight trip immensely; and a
+gentle breeze from the desert drifting over them relieved the
+scorching heat of the late afternoon and early evening.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess the Indians are not going to bother us," said Walter,
+riding up to Tad just before daylight.</p>
+
+<p>"Probably not. They will be in too much trouble with the
+Government, after last night's performances, to give much thought
+to chasing us. And besides, I don't see why they should wish to
+do so. Had they been very anxious to be revenged on us, most
+likely they would not have allowed us to get away as they
+did."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it very terrible, Tad?" asked Walter Perkins.</p>
+
+<p>"What, the dance, or what happened afterwards?" laughed the
+lad.</p>
+
+<p>"Both?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm free to confess that neither was exactly pleasant.
+When they caught Chunky I thought it was all up with us. Hello.
+There's Mr. Daylight."</p>
+
+<p>Glancing to the left the boys saw the sky turning to gray. A
+buzzard screamed overhead, laying its course for the mountains
+where it was journeying in search of food.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" demanded Stacy, awakening from a doze in his
+saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"Friend of yours with an appetite," grinned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it sounded like breakfast call," muttered Stacy,
+relapsing into sleep again, his head drooping forward until, a
+few minutes later, he was lying over the saddle pommel with arms
+thrown loosely about the pony's neck.</p>
+
+<p>Ned, observing the lad's position, suddenly conceived a
+mischievous plan. Unnoticed by the others, he permitted his own
+pony to fall back until he was a short distance behind Stacy. The
+others were a little way ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Ned rode slowly alongside his companion, as he passed,
+bringing the rowel of his spur sharply against the withers of
+Chunky's mount.</p>
+
+<p>The effect was instantaneous.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy's mount, itself half asleep, suddenly humped its
+back, and with bunching feet leaped clear of the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, what's the matter back there?" called Ned, who by this
+time was a full rod in advance of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy did not answer. He was at that moment turning an
+undignified somersault in the air, his pony standing meekly,
+awaiting the next act in the little drama.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy landed on the plain in a heap.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you hurt, Chunky?" cried Tad anxiously, slipping from his
+saddle and running to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I dunno, I&mdash;I fell off, didn't I?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're off, at least," grinned Ned. "What was the
+matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I dunno; do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"How should I know? If you will go to sleep an a bucking
+broncho, you must expect things to happen."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy, by this time, had scrambled to his feet; after which,
+he began a careful inventory of himself to make sure that he was
+all there. He grinned sheepishly.</p>
+
+<p>Satisfying himself on this point, Stacy shrugged his shoulders
+and walked over to his pony with a suggestion of a limp.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that we have halted we might as well make camp for a few
+hours, get breakfast and take a nap," suggested the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>The boys welcomed this proposition gratefully, for they were
+beginning to feel the effects of their long night ride, added to
+which, two of them had had a series of trying experiences before
+starting out.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, Stacy Brown had been examining his pony with
+more than usual care.</p>
+
+<p>Tad observed his action, and wondered at it. A moment later,
+the fat boy having moved away; Tad thought he would take a look
+at the animal. He was curious to know what Stacy had in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"So that's it, is it?" muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>He found the mark of a spur on the pony's withers. While it
+had not punctured the skin, the spur had raked the coat, showing
+that the rowel had been applied with considerable force.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, with a covert glance about, saw Ned Rector watching
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"You're the guilty one, eh?" he demanded, walking up to
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"S-h-h-h," cautioned Ned. "He'll be redheaded if he knows I am
+to blame for his coming a cropper."</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky's not so slow as you might think. But that wasn't a
+nice thing to do. It's all right to play tricks, but I hope you
+won't be so cruel as to use a spur on a dumb animal, the way you
+did, even if he is an ill-tempered broncho. You might have broken
+Chunky's neck, too."</p>
+
+<p>Ned's face flushed.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a mean trick, I'll admit. Didn't strike me so at the
+time. Shall I ask Chunky's pardon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do as you think best. I should, were I in your place."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, I will after breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>Ned got busy at once, assisting to cook the morning meal,
+while Juan led the ponies out to a patch of grass and staked them
+down. While the Pony Rider cook was thus engaged, he felt a tug
+at his coat sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>Turning sharply, Ned found Stacy at his side. Stacy's face was
+flushed and his eyes were snapping.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come over here, I want to talk with you."</p>
+
+<p>They stepped off a few paces out of hearing of the others, Tad
+smiling to himself as he observed Stacy's act.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's the matter, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can lick you, Ned Rector!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wha&mdash;what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Said I could lick you. Didn't say I was going to, understand.
+Just said I could&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Like to see you try it."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; it's a go."</p>
+
+<p>Ere Ned could recover from his surprise, Stacy Brown had
+launched himself upon his companion. One of Stacy's arms went
+about Ned's neck, one foot kicked a leg from under Ned, and the
+two lads went down in the dust together.</p>
+
+<p>It had happened in a twinkling.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here! What's going on over there?" shouted the
+Professor, starting on a run, while the other lads were
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky was sitting on the chest of his fallen adversary, Ned
+struggling desperately to throw the lad off.</p>
+
+<p>"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" crowed Chunky, in imitation of a rooster,
+flapping his hands on his thighs, in great good humor with
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin grabbed him by the collar, jerking Stacy
+Brown from the fallen Pony Rider Boy.</p>
+
+<p>Ned scrambled to his feet, and, with a sheepish grin on his
+face, proceeded to brush the dust from his clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"Downed you, did he?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't fair. I didn't know he was going to try."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither did the Russians when the Japs sailed into them at
+Port Arthur," laughed Walter. "And they got what was coming to
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"So did I. Chunky, I deserve more than you gave me. If you
+want to, beat me up some more."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, isn't that sweet of him?" chortled Stacy. "I fell off my
+pony, then I fell on you, and we'll call it quits, eh, Ned?"</p>
+
+<p>Ned put out a hand, which Stacy grasped with mock
+enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>"We sure will."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to know what this is all about?" questioned Walter.
+"Something's been going on."</p>
+
+<p>"I made his pony throw him over," admitted Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy nodded with emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"He found it out and jumped on me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll turn you both over my knee if you try to repeat these
+performances," warned the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>Linking arms, Stacy and Ned started for the breakfast table,
+humming,</p>
+
+<p>"For he's a jolly good fellow,"</p>
+
+<p>and a moment later all four of the lads were standing about
+the breakfast table, singing the chorus at the top of their
+voices.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII</h3>
+
+<h4>ASLEEP ON THE SLEEPY GRASS</h4>
+
+<p>The slanting rays of the sun got into the eyes of the Pony
+Rider Boys. Four arms were thrown over as many pairs of eyes to
+shut out the blinding light.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho-ho-hum!" yawned Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>Cocking an impish eye at his companions, he observed that each
+had fallen into a deep sleep again.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy cautiously gathered up a handful of dry sand and
+hurled it into the air. A shower of it sprinkled over them, into
+their eyes and half-opened mouths.</p>
+
+<p>Three pairs of eyes were opened, then closed again.</p>
+
+<p>Encouraged by his success, Stacy chuckled softly to himself,
+then dumped another handful of sand over his companions.</p>
+
+<p>But he was not prepared for what followed.</p>
+
+<p>Three muscular boys hurled themselves upon him. Instantly the
+peaceful scene was changed into a pandemonium of yells. Down came
+the tent poles, the canvas rising and falling as if imbued with
+sudden life.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin, startled by the racket, roused himself and
+sprang from his own tent. Observing the erratic actions of the
+tent in which the boys had been sleeping, he instantly concluded
+that something serious had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys! boys!" he cried, running to the spot, frantically
+hauling away the canvas. "What has happened? What has
+happened?"</p>
+
+<p>They were too busy to answer him. When finally he had
+uncovered what lay below, he found his charges literally tied up
+in a knot, rolling and tumbling, with Stacy Brown lying flat on
+his back, each of his three companions vigorously rubbing
+handfuls of sand over his face, down his neck and in the hair of
+his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll take a hand in this myself," smiled the
+Professor. He ran to his tent, returning quickly. In his hands he
+carried two pails of water.</p>
+
+<p>Unluckily for the boys, they had failed to observe what he was
+doing. Nor did they understand that they were in danger until the
+contents of the two pails had been dashed over them.</p>
+
+<p>There were yells in earnest this time. The water turned the
+dirt into mud at once, and their faces were "sights." Stacy's
+face had been protected, in a measure, by the other boys who were
+bending over him rubbing in the sand.</p>
+
+<p>The unexpected bath put a sudden end to their sport, and they
+staggered out shouting for vengeance. They did not even know who
+had been the cause of their undoing.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor, as he walked away smiling, had handed the pails
+to the grinning Juan with instructions to refill them.</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate Juan, bearing the pails away, was the first
+person to catch the eyes of the lads, as they rubbed the sticky
+mud out of them.</p>
+
+<p>With a howl they projected themselves upon him. Juan's grin
+changed instantly to an expression of great concern. He went down
+under their charge, with four boys, instead of three, on top of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Duck him!" shouted some one.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! Douse him in the spring!" chorused the boys.</p>
+
+<p>Juan cried out for the Professor, but his appeals were in
+vain.</p>
+
+<p>Shouting in high glee the lads bore him to the spring from
+which they got their water. They plumped him in, not any too
+gently, again and again.</p>
+
+<p>"Now roll him in the sand," suggested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>They did so.</p>
+
+<p>The wet clothing and body made the sand stick to him until the
+lazy Mexican was scarcely recognizable.</p>
+
+<p>At this point Professor Zepplin took a hand. He came bounding
+to the scene and began throwing the boys roughly from their
+unhappy victim. Perhaps he was not greatly disturbed over the
+shaking up the guide had sustained, but of course he confided
+nothing of this to the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves&mdash;for four of you
+to pitch on to one weak Mexican! I'm surprised, young
+gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but&mdash;he ducked us," protested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"He did nothing of the sort."</p>
+
+<p>"What&mdash;didn't duck us? Guess I know water when I feel
+it," objected Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"You were ducked, all right, but it is I, not Juan, who am
+responsible for that."</p>
+
+<p>"You?" questioned the lads all at once.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor nodded, a broad grin on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"But he had the pails."</p>
+
+<p>"I gave them to him, after pouring the water over you. That's
+what is known as circumstantial evidence, young gentlemen. Let it
+be a lesson to you to be careful how you convict anyone on that
+kind of evidence."</p>
+
+<p>"Fellows," glowed Chunky, "we've made a mistake. Let's make it
+right by ducking the Professor."</p>
+
+<p>The boys looked over Professor Zepplin critically.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we'd better defer that job till we grow some more,"
+they decided, with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>The next fifteen minutes were fully occupied in cleaning up
+and putting on their clothes. They were all thoroughly awake now,
+with cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling after their violent
+exercise. The guide had rather sullenly washed off the wet dust
+that clung to his face and hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind the clothes, Juan," advised Ned. "It'll brush off
+as soon as it gets dry. We'll take up a contribution to buy you a
+clothes brush. Ever see one?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan grinned.</p>
+
+<p>"You promise not to gamble the money away if we give it to
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Shell out, fellows. Ten cents apiece. That ought to salve his
+injured feelings."</p>
+
+<p>Ned passed the hat, all contributing.</p>
+
+<p>"That makes forty cents. Here, Professor, you haven't put in
+your ten yet. It'll take just fifty cents to paste up Juan's
+injuries."</p>
+
+<p>"That reminds me of a fellow I heard about once," announced
+Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to tell a story?" questioned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will keep still long enough," replied Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Then me for the bunch grass. It's like going to a funeral to
+hear Chunky try to tell a story."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him tell it," shouted the lads.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, Chunky. Never mind Ned. He'll laugh when he gets back
+to Chillicothe," jibed Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard of a fellow once&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; you told us that before," jeered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Not the one we ducked in the spring, was it?" grinned
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's telling this story?" demanded Stacy belligerently.</p>
+
+<p>"You are, I guess. I won't interrupt again."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, did I say this fellow was a boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he was&mdash;he's grown up now. He rushed into a drug
+store&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Was anything chasing him?" asked Ned innocently.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy gave no heed to the interruption.</p>
+
+<p>"And he said to the man in the store, 'Please, sir, some
+liniment and some cement?'"</p>
+
+<p>"'What?' asked the clerk all in a muddle. You see, he'd never
+had a prescription like that to fill before. It made him tired,
+'cause he thought the kid was making fun of him."</p>
+
+<p>"'What&mdash;what's the trouble? What do you want liniment and
+cement for?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause,' said the boy to the pill man, ''cause mom hit pop on
+the head with a plate.'"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was silence, then the boys roared. But Ned
+never smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Laugh, laugh! Why don't you laugh?" urged Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Laugh? Huh! I laughed myself almost sick over that a long
+time ago. Read it in an almanac when I was in short
+trousers."</p>
+
+<p>"The ponies! The ponies!" cried Juan, rushing up to them,
+waving his arms, then running his fingers through his long black
+hair until it stood up like the quills of a porcupine.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" queried the Pony Rider Boys in sudden alarm. "What's
+the matter with the ponies?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan pointed to the place where the stock had been tethered
+after they arrived at the camp.</p>
+
+<p>There was not an animal to be seen anywhere on the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone!" gasped the lads, with sinking hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no. There!" stammered the guide.</p>
+
+<p>With one accord the boys ran at top speed to the spot
+indicated by Juan.</p>
+
+<p>There, stretched out in the long grass lay bronchos and
+burros.</p>
+
+<p>"They're dead, the ponies are dead, every one of them!" cried
+the lads aghast.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IX</h3>
+
+<h4>THE MIDNIGHT ALARM</h4>
+
+<p>"What's this, what's this?" demanded the Professor, striding
+up.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look! The ponies are dead!" exclaimed Ned
+excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose could have happened to them?" stammered
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible? What's the meaning of this, guide?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Tad had hurried to his own pony, and was down
+on his knees examining it. Placing his hands on the animal's
+side, he remained in that position for an instant, then sprang
+up.</p>
+
+<p>"They're not dead, fellows! They're alive!"</p>
+
+<p>"Asleep," grumbled Ned disgustedly.</p>
+
+<p>"But there's something the matter with them. Something has
+happened to the stock," added Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Only a false alarm," nodded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Think so? Try to wake your pony up," advised Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy had already hurried to his own broncho, and now began
+tugging at the bridle rein, with sundry pokes in the animal's
+ribs.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't. He's in a trance," wailed Stacy, considerably
+startled.</p>
+
+<p>That expression came nearer to describing the condition of the
+stock than any other words could have done.</p>
+
+<p>"Guide, what do you know about this?" questioned the
+Professor. "Has some one been tampering with our animals?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan shrugged his shoulders with an air of indifference.</p>
+
+<p>"No bother bronchs."</p>
+
+<p>"Then will you please tell us what is the matter with
+them?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Sleepy grass!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Sleepy grass?" chorused the lads.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they're asleep all right," added Ned. "But whoever
+heard of sleepy grass?"</p>
+
+<p>"He means they're sleeping on the grass," Stacy informed
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I begin to understand," nodded the Professor. "I think I
+know what the trouble is now. The guide is no doubt right."</p>
+
+<p>The boys gathered around him, all curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us about it, Professor. We are very much mystified?"
+said the Pony Riders.</p>
+
+<p>"A long time ago I remember to have read, somewhere, of a
+certain grass in this region that possessed peculiar narcotic
+properties&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What's narcotic?" interrupted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Something that makes you go to sleep when you can't,"
+explained Tad Butler, rather ambiguously.</p>
+
+<p>"When eaten by horses or cattle it is said to put them into
+deep sleep. The Rockefeller Institute, I believe, is already
+making an analytical test of the grass."</p>
+
+<p>"Please talk so I can understand it," begged Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; those words make my head ache," scowled Ned. "Even the
+guide is making up faces in his effort to understand."</p>
+
+<p>"He does understand. He understands only too well. For many
+years this grass has been known. Cows turned out for the day
+would fail to return at night&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To be milked," interjected Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"And an investigation would disclose them sleeping in some
+region, where the sleepy grass grew</p>
+
+<p>And the fat boy hummed:</p>
+
+<p>"Down where the sleepy grass is growing."</p>
+
+<p>"Travelers who have tied out their horses in patches of the
+grass for the night have been unable to continue their journey
+until the animals recovered from their strange sleep. Thus the
+properties of the grass became known."</p>
+
+<p>"Indians use 'em to tame bad bronchos," the guide informed
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Just so."</p>
+
+<p>"But, when will they wake up?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Mebby sun-up to-morrow," answered Juan, glancing up at the
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>"What, sleep twenty-four hours?" demanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Preposterous."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, then, we've got to remain here all the rest of the
+afternoon and night&mdash;is that it?" demanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks that way."</p>
+
+<p>"And you knew about this stuff, Juan?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you're a nice sort of a guide, I must say."</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to be put off the reservation," threatened Stacy,
+shaking a menacing fist in front of the white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, Tad had gone over to the animals again, and,
+taking them in turn, sought to stir them up. He found he could
+not do so. The ponies' heads would drop to the ground after he
+had lifted and let go of them, just as if the animals were
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>"Gives you a creepy feeling, doesn't it?" shivered Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I should say it does," answered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it, Chunky?" asked Tad, who observed that Stacy
+had something on his mind that he was trying to formulate into
+words.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea, fellows," he exploded.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on to it, then. You may never get another," jeered
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Master Stacy?" asked the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;then&mdash;then&mdash;that's what Juan and his
+burro have been eating all the time. I knew there was something
+the matter with them."</p>
+
+<p>A loud laugh greeted the fat boy's suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess he's about right, at that," grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"A brilliant thought," agreed the Professor. "Boys, I must
+have some of that grass. I shall make some experiments with
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Experiment on Chunky," they shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"No; he sleeps quite well enough as it is," smiled the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"I want some of it too&mdash;no, not to eat," corrected the
+fat boy. "I'll feed it to my aunt's cat when I get back; then he
+won't be running away from home every night."</p>
+
+<p>"Better unload the rest of the equipment, boys," advised the
+Professor. "If we must remain here all night we might as well
+make the best of it."</p>
+
+<p>Without their ponies, the lads spent rather a restless
+afternoon. They had not fully realized before how much a part of
+them their horses had become until they were suddenly deprived of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the bronchos slept on undisturbed.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got another idea," shouted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep it to yourself," growled Ned. "Your ideas, like your
+jokes, graduated a long time ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there sleepy grass in the Catskill Mountains!" persisted
+Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't know, and we don't&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know there is, and that's what put Rip Van Winkle to sleep
+for twenty years," shouted the fat boy in high glee. "See, I know
+more than&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; you're the original boy wonder. We'll take that for
+granted," nodded Ned Rector.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, however, was not inclined to look upon their enforced
+delay with anything like amusement. To him it had its serious
+side. He had not forgotten that they had been fleeing from the
+Indians. When he got an opportunity to do so, without his
+companions overhearing, he approached the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it would be a good plan for us to have a guard over
+our camp to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"On account of?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; I think myself that it would be a prudent move.
+Have Juan sit up, then."</p>
+
+<p>"No, he's a sleepy bead. Suppose we boys take turns?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; arrange it to suit yourselves. I presume we ought
+to do something of the sort every night. It might have saved us
+some trouble on our Ozark journey had we been that prudent.
+Arrange it to suit you. I'll take my turn."</p>
+
+<p>"No; we can do it, Professor. You go to bed as usual. We'll
+draw lots to see who takes the different watches. With the four
+of us we'll have to take only two hours apiece. That won't be bad
+at all."</p>
+
+<p>The other boys, after the plan had been explained to them,
+entered into it enthusiastically. Walter was to take the first
+trick, Ned the next, Chunky the third and Tad the fourth.</p>
+
+<p>And they were to take their guns out with them. The Professor
+agreed to this, now that they had become more familiar with
+firearms. As a matter of fact, all the boys had developed into
+excellent marksmen, though Tad was recognized as the best shot of
+the party.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin, during the afternoon, gave each of them a
+lesson in revolver shooting, using for the purpose, his heavy
+army revolver. They did pretty well with this weapon, but, of
+course, were not nearly as expert with it as with the rifle.</p>
+
+<p>Evening came and the stock was still sleeping soundly. There
+was nothing the boys could do but let them sleep, though the fact
+of all the ponies and burros lying about as if dead began to make
+the Pony Riders nervous. Night came, and with it semi-darkness,
+the moon being overcast with a veil of fleecy white clouds, which
+cast a grayish film over the landscape. The lads joked each other
+about having the "creeps," but none would admit the charge.</p>
+
+<p>Walter, with rifle slung over his right shoulder, went out on
+the first watch with instructions to go at least two hundred
+yards from camp and keep walking around the camp in a circle.
+This would protect them from surprises on all sides. Ned decided
+not to retire until he had taken his guard trick, in view of the
+fact that he was to go on at eleven o'clock. But Stacy, proposing
+to get all the sleep he was entitled to, turned in early. The
+rest did not disturb him. The boys were unusually quiet that
+evening, perhaps feeling that the responsibility of the safety of
+the camp rested wholly upon their youthful shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Ned came in at one o'clock, after having taken his turn,
+unslung his rifle, drew the cartridges then put them back in the
+magazine again.</p>
+
+<p>"I might need them before morning," he told himself.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky being sound asleep, Ned grabbed him by a foot giving
+him a violent pull.</p>
+
+<p>"Wat'cher want? Get out!" growled the fat boy sleepily.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up and take your watch!" commanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's afraid of Indians?" mumbled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>This time Ned took the lad by the collar, jerked him to his
+feet and shook him until Stacy yelled "Ouch!" so loudly as to
+awaken the entire camp.</p>
+
+<p>It took some time, however, to get Stacy himself awake
+sufficiently to make him understand that he had a duty to
+perform. Finally, however, he shouldered his rifle, after
+surreptitiously helping himself to a sandwich from the cook tent.
+Then he marched off, munching the bread and meat.</p>
+
+<p>"See here," snapped Ned, running after him. "You're not
+measuring off your distance. Come back and pace it off."</p>
+
+<p>"How many?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two hundred yards. Stretch your fat legs as far as they'll
+go, then you'll have a yard, more or less."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy started all over again, forgot the count, came back,
+then tried it again. Even at that he was not sure whether he had
+gone one hundred yards or five.</p>
+
+<p>He was awake enough, now, to observe his surroundings. The
+cool breezes of the night were tossing the leaves of the
+cottonwoods near the water course to the west of them, while here
+and there in the foliage might be heard the exultant notes of a
+mocking bird.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy shivered.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess it's going to freeze to-night," he decided, beginning
+his steady tramp about the camp of the Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>Muttering to himself, as was his habit when alone, Stacy kept
+on until finding himself opposite the ponies, he decided to go
+over and look at them. All were asleep. Not one had awakened
+since going down under the powerful influence of the "sleepy
+grass."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to eat some of that stuff myself, right now," Chunky
+decided out loud. "I'd have a good excuse for going to sleep
+then. Now I can't without getting jumped on by the fellows.
+Wonder what time it is&mdash;only half-past one. Must be
+something the matter with my watch. I know I've been out more'n
+two hours."</p>
+
+<p>This trip he circled out further from the camp, growing a
+little more confident because nothing had happened to disturb
+him.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the camp slept in peace&mdash;that is, the
+lads did until nearly time for the change of guard. Then the
+whole party was aroused with the sudden, startling conviction
+that something serious had happened.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the crack of a rifle sounded on the still night
+air. It was followed by another shot, and another, until four
+distinct reports had rolled across the plains.</p>
+
+<p>In wild disorder the Pony Rider Boys tumbled from their cots,
+and, grasping their weapons, leaped from the tents.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the row?" inquired the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow! Wow! Wow! Yeow!" shrieked a shrill voice to the
+northward.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Chunky. He's giving the alarm! We're attacked!" cried
+the lads.</p>
+
+<p>Bang! Bang!</p>
+
+<p>They saw the flash of the fat boy's weapon before the report
+reached their ears.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the other boys caught sight of Stacy dashing
+into camp, hatless, waving his rifle and yelling as if bereft of
+his senses.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it? What is it?" cried the boys with one voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Indians! Indians! The prairie's full of them!"</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X</h3>
+
+<h4>MEETING THE ATTACK</h4>
+
+<p>Instantly the camp was thrown into confusion. The lads ran
+here and there, not knowing what to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Get behind the ponies! That's the only cover we can find
+here. Run for it!"</p>
+
+<p>And run they did, the Professor outdistancing all the rest in
+his attempt to secrete himself where the enemy's weapons would
+not be likely to reach him.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment more, the camp of the Pony Rider Boys was
+deserted, and behind each sleeping pony lay a boy, with rifle
+barrel poked over the animal's back, ready to shoot at the first
+sign of the redskins. Stacy, in his excitement, had forgotten
+that not a cartridge was left in his magazine, and the others
+were too fully occupied to remember to tell him.</p>
+
+<p>For all of half an hour did the party lie protected. The boys
+began to grow restive. Tad's suspicions were being slowly
+aroused.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to do a little scouting," he told them, slipping
+from behind the pony and skulking along back of the tents. The
+moon was shining brightly now. He could see a long distance. Not
+a human being was in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so," he muttered, retracing his steps. "See here,
+Stacy Brown, what did you see&mdash;what did you shoot at?" he
+demanded sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I shot the chute&mdash;I&mdash;I mean I chuted the
+shot&mdash;I mean&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Say, what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I mean&mdash;say, leggo my neck, will you?" roared
+Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Fellows, he doesn't know what he means."</p>
+
+<p>"Guess he's been feeding on crazy grass out on the prairie,"
+was Ned's conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't an Indian anywhere around here. I know it. They
+would have been after us long before this, if there had
+been."</p>
+
+<p>One by one the boys came from their hiding places, the lazy
+Mexican last. Disapproving eyes were turned on Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky, you come along and show us where you were when you
+shot&mdash;did you shoot at an Indian?" asked Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I&mdash;I&mdash;I shot him."</p>
+
+<p>"Show us. We're all from Chillicothe," demanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy, with a show of importance, led the way, keeping a wary
+eye out for the enemy. It was noticed, however, that each of the
+lads held his rifle ready for business in case there should be an
+enemy about.</p>
+
+<p>"There! I was standing right over there&mdash;I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"You guess! Don't you know?" questioned the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's the place."</p>
+
+<p>The lad walked over to the identical spot from which he had
+first fired his rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"He was over there and I shot at him, so," said Stacy,
+leveling the weapon. "Ye-ow! There he is, now!" shrieked the
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>Every weapon flashed up to a level with the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something over there on the ground," decided the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Put down your guns so you don't shoot me," said Tad. "I'm
+going to find out what it is."</p>
+
+<p>Keeping his own weapon held at "ready," the lad walked boldly
+over to where a heap of some sort lay on the plain. It surely had
+not been there during the afternoon&mdash;Tad knew that.</p>
+
+<p>He reached it, stooped, peered, then uttered a yell.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" they cried, hurrying up.</p>
+
+<p>"You've done it now, Chunky Brown. You certainly have gone and
+done it."</p>
+
+<p>"What&mdash;what is it?" cried the others in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"You've shot the lazy Mexican's burro. That's your Indian,
+Stacy Brown."</p>
+
+<p>Juan, who had followed them out on the plain, uttered a wail
+and threw himself upon the body of his prostrate burro. The
+animal, it seemed, had recovered consciousness during the night,
+and in a half-dazed condition had wandered out on the plain.
+Stacy, while crouching down on the ground, had seen the head and
+long ears of the burro. He thought the ears were part of the head
+dress of a savage and let fly a volley of bullets at it.</p>
+
+<p>"He&mdash;he isn't dead," shouted the fat boy. "See, I just
+pinked him in the ears."</p>
+
+<p>And, surely enough, an examination revealed a hole through
+each ear. The holes were so close to the animal's head that it
+was reasonable to suppose the shot had stunned him, being already
+in a weakened condition from the sleepy grass.</p>
+
+<p>The boys set to work to rouse the burro, which they succeeded
+in doing in a short time. Juan, with arm around the lazy beast's
+neck, led it back to camp, petting and soothing it with a
+chattering that they could not understand.</p>
+
+<p>There was no more sleep in camp that night, though the boys
+turned in at the Professor's suggestion. Every little while,
+laughter would sound in one of the tents, as the others fell to
+discussing Stacy's Indian attack.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning they were overjoyed to find that the ponies
+had awakened and were trying to get up.</p>
+
+<p>"Lead them out of that grass, fellows," shouted Tad, the
+moment he saw the ponies were coming around. "We don't want them
+to make another meal of that stuff."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor take another of Chunky's Rip Van Winkle sleeps," added
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Never having had a like experience, none of the lads knew what
+to do with their mounts after getting them sufficiently awake to
+lead them to a place of safety. They appealed to Juan for advice,
+but the lazy Mexican appeared to know even less than they.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, after studying the question a few moments, decided to
+give them water, though sparingly. This they appeared to relish
+and braced up quite a little. But the boy would not allow them to
+graze until nearly noon, when each one took his pony out, making
+sure that there was none of the sleepy grass around. The animals
+were then permitted to graze.</p>
+
+<p>About the middle of the afternoon Tad decided that all were
+fit to continue the journey, and that it would be safe to travel
+until sunset. Everyone was glad to get away from the spot where
+they had had such unpleasant experiences, and the boys set off,
+moving slowly, the stock not yet being in the best of
+condition.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon, when they had about decided to make
+camp, one of the boys espied an object, something like a quarter
+of a mile away, that looked like the roof of a house.</p>
+
+<p>Ned said it couldn't be that, as it appeared to be resting on
+the ground. They asked Juan if he knew what it was, and for a
+wonder he did. He said it was a dug-out&mdash;a place where a man
+lived.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he a hermit?" asked Stacy apprehensively, at which there
+was a laugh. Stacy had not forgotten his experiences in the cave
+of the hermit of the Nevada Desert.</p>
+
+<p>For the next hour, the lads were too busy, pitching tents and
+unloading the pack animals, to give further thought to the
+dug-out or its occupant; but when, after they had prepared their
+evening meal, they saw some one approaching on horseback, they
+were instantly curious again.</p>
+
+<p>The newcomer proved to be the owner of the dug-out. He was a
+tall, square-jawed man, with a short, cropped iron-gray beard and
+small blue, twinkling eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you join us and have some supper?" asked Tad politely,
+walking out to greet the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; I will, young man," smiled the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Tad introduced himself and companions.</p>
+
+<p>"You probably have heard my name before, young men. It is Kris
+Kringle; I'm living out here for my health and doing a little
+ranching on the side."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy looked his amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Is&mdash;is he Santa Claus?" he whispered, tugging at Tad's
+coat sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>"No, young man. I am not related to the gentleman you refer
+to," grinned Mr. Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>There was a general laugh at Stacy's expense.</p>
+
+<p>After supper, the visitor invited all hands to ride over to
+his dug-out and spend the evening with him. The boys accepted
+gladly, never having seen the inside of a dug-out, and not
+knowing what one looked like. Professor Zepplin had taken a
+sudden liking to the man with the Christmas name, and soon the
+two were engaged in earnest conversation.</p>
+
+<p>The distance being so short, Tad decided that they had better
+walk, leaving the ponies in charge of Juan so they might get a
+full night's rest. Then all hands set out for the dug-out.</p>
+
+<p>A short flight of steps led down into the place, the roof of
+which was raised just far enough above the ground to permit of
+two narrow windows on each side and at the rear end.</p>
+
+<p>The room in which they found themselves, proved to be a
+combination kitchen and dining room. Its neatness and orderliness
+impressed them at once.</p>
+
+<p>"And here," said Kris Kringle, "is what I call my den,"
+throwing open a door leading into a rear room and lighting a
+hanging oil lamp.</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider Boys uttered an exclamation of surprised
+delight.</p>
+
+<p>On a hardwood floor lay a profusion of brightly colored Navajo
+rugs, the walls being hung with others of exquisite workmanship
+and coloring, interspersed with weapons and trophies of the
+chase, while in other parts of the room were rare specimens of
+pottery from ancient adobe houses of the Pueblos.</p>
+
+<p>At the far end of the room was a great fire-place. Book cases,
+home-made, stood about the room, full of books. The Professor
+realized, at once, that they were in the home of a student and a
+collector.</p>
+
+<p>"This is indeed an oasis in the desert," he glowed. "I shall
+be loath to leave here."</p>
+
+<p>"Then don't," smiled Mr. Kringle. "I'm sure I am glad enough
+to have company. Seldom ever see anyone here, except now and then
+a roving band of Indians."</p>
+
+<p>"Indians!" exclaimed Tad. "Do you have any trouble with
+them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they know better than to bother with me much. We have
+had an occasional argument," said their host, his jaws setting
+almost stubbornly for the instant. "Most of the tribes in the
+state are peaceful, though the Apaches are as bad as ever. They
+behave themselves because they have to, not because they wish to
+do so."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw their fire dance the other night," began Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" demanded Mr. Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Fire dance."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about it?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad did so, the host listening with grave face until the
+recital was ended.</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head disapprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"And this&mdash;this Indian that you knocked down&mdash;was he
+an Apache?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I think so, though. He had on a peculiar head
+dress</p>
+
+<p>"That was one of them," interrupted Mr. Kringle, with
+emphasis. "And I'll wager you haven't heard the last of him yet.
+That's an insult which the Apache brave will harbor under his
+copper skin forever. He'll wait for years, but he'll get even if
+he can."</p>
+
+<p>The faces of the Pony Rider Boys were grave.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a reliable guide?"</p>
+
+<p>"Far from it," answered the Professor. "If I knew where I
+could get another, I'd pack him off without ceremony."</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle was silent for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I need a little change of scene," he smiled. "How would you
+like to have me take the trail with you for a week or so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Would you?" glowed the Professor, half rising from his
+chair.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I might."</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" cried the Pony Riders enthusiastically. "That will
+be fine."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, you understand that I expect no pay. I am going
+because I happen to take a notion to do so. Perhaps I'll be able
+to serve you at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>The Professor grasped Mr. Kringle by the hand impulsively.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll send that lazy Juan on his way this very
+night&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me do it," interposed Stacy, with flushing face. "I'll do
+it right, Professor. But I'll put on my pair of heavy boots
+first, so it'll hurt him more."</p>
+
+<p>The boys shouted with laughter, while the new guide's eyes
+twinkled merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"I think, perhaps, the young man might do it even more
+effectively than you or I," he said. "Have you weapons,
+Professor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rifles."</p>
+
+<p>"That's good. We may need them."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"One can never tell."</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3>
+
+<h4>RIDING WITH KRIS KRINGLE</h4>
+
+<p>A slender ribbon of dust unrolling across the plain far to the
+northward marked the receding trail of Juan and his lazy burro.
+They had given him a week's extra pay and sent him on his
+way.</p>
+
+<p>The burro was making for home, aided by the busy feet of its
+master, while Stacy Brown, shading his eyes with one hand, was
+watching the progress of the guide, whom he had just sent
+adrift.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he's gone," grinned Stacy, turning to his companions,
+who were busy striking camp.</p>
+
+<p>"And a good riddance," nodded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"He'll probably join the Indians and tell them where we are,"
+suggested Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I hadn't thought of that," replied Tad. "Still, if they wish
+to find us they know how without Juan's telling them."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"They can follow a trail with their eyes shut," said Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right. They do not need to be told," muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Everything being in readiness, the boys started with their
+outfit for the dug-out, where they were to be joined by Kris
+Kringle. They felt a real relief to know that they were to have
+with them a strong man on whom they were sure they could rely to
+do the right thing under all circumstances. Tad, however,
+believed that Mr. Kringle had decided to join them, fearing they
+would be attacked by the Apaches and come to serious harm. Yet he
+hardly thought the redskins would dare to follow them, after the
+latter had once gotten over the frenzy of their fire dance. By
+that time the Indian agents would have rounded them all up on the
+reservations, where the Indians would be able to do no more harm
+for a while.</p>
+
+<p>After picking up the new guide the start was made. The party
+had water in plenty in the water-bags, so that no effort was made
+to pick up a water hole when they made camp late in the
+afternoon. The guide had brought in his pack a tough old sage
+hen, at which the lads were inclined to jeer when he announced
+his intention of cooking it for their supper.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll change your mind when you taste it, young gentlemen.
+It depends upon the cooking entirely. A sage hen may be a
+delicious morsel, or it may not," answered Mr. Kringle, with a
+grin.</p>
+
+<p>They were encamped near a succession of low-lying buttes, and
+to while away the time until the supper hour, the boys strolled
+away singly to stretch their legs on the plain after the long
+day's ride in the hot sun.</p>
+
+<p>When they returned an hour or so later, Stacy, they observed,
+was swinging a curious forked stick that he had picked up
+somewhere a few moments ago.</p>
+
+<p>"What you got there?" questioned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't know. Picked it up on the plain. Such a funny looking
+thing, that I brought it along."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see it," asked Mr. Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy handed it to him.</p>
+
+<p>"This," said the guide, turning the stick over in his hand,
+"is a divining rod."</p>
+
+<p>"Divining rod?" demanded Stacy, pressing forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Never heard of it. Is it good to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Looks to me like a wish bone," interjected Ned. "Do you eat
+wish bones, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"Might, if I were hungry enough."</p>
+
+<p>"A divining rod is used to locate springs. Some users of it
+have been very successful. I couldn't find a lake with it, even
+if I fell in first."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," marveled the Professor. "I have heard of the
+remarkable work of divining rods. What Rind of wood is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is hazel wood. Oak, elm, ash or privet also are used,
+but hazel is preferred in this country."</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;then we won't have to go dry any more&mdash;I can
+find water with this when I'm dry?" questioned Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You might; then again you might not."</p>
+
+<p>"Better take it away from him," suggested Ned. "He might find
+a spring. If he did he'd be sure to fall in and drown."</p>
+
+<p>The stick, which was shaped like the letter Y, was an object
+of great interest to the Pony Rider Boys. One by one they took it
+out on the plain, in an effort to locate some water. The guide
+instructed them to hold the Y with the bottom up, one prong in
+each hand and to walk slowly.</p>
+
+<p>But, try as they would, they were able to get no results.</p>
+
+<p>"The thing's a fraud!" exclaimed Ned disgustedly, throwing the
+divining rod away.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy picked it up.</p>
+
+<p>"I know why it doesn't work," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" demanded the other boys.</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause&mdash;'cause there isn't any water to make it work,"
+he replied wisely.</p>
+
+<p>The boys groaned.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after returning to camp, they found the fat boy
+standing over a pail of water holding the stick above it.</p>
+
+<p>He was talking to the stick confidentially, urging it to "do
+something," to the intense amusement of the whole outfit.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, where's your theory?" questioned the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it doesn't have to work, does it? Don't we know there's
+water here? If we didn't the stick would tell us, maybe. Take my
+word for it, this outfit won't have to go dry after this. Stacy
+Brown and his magic wand will find all the water needed,"
+continued the fat boy proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Your logic is good, at any rate, even if the rod doesn't work
+at command," laughed the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>Supper was a jolly affair, for everyone was in high spirits.
+The sage hen, contrary to general expectation, was found to be
+delicious. Chunky begged for the wish bone and got it. He said
+he'd use it for a divining rod when he wanted to find a little
+spring.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Kringle, I am commissioned by the fellows to ask you a
+question," announced Tad, after the meal had been in progress for
+a time.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask it," smiled the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"We thought we'd like to call you Santa Claus, seeing you've
+brought us so much cheer. Then again, it's your name you know.
+Kris Kringle is Santa Claus."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, call me what you please, young men."</p>
+
+<p>From that moment on, Kris Kringle was Santa Claus to the Pony
+Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>They had now come to a rolling country, with here and there
+high buttes, followed by large areas of bottom lands which were
+covered with rank growths of bunch grass. Traveling was more
+difficult than it had been, and water more scarce.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the second day out, after they had been skirmishing
+for water in every direction, that the lads heard the familiar
+yell from Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"There goes the trouble maker," cried Ned. "He's at it
+again."</p>
+
+<p>The guide bounded up, starting on a run for the spot where
+Chunky's wail had been heard. The others were not far behind.</p>
+
+<p>They saw the red, perspiring face of the fat boy above a clump
+of grass, his yells for help continuing, unabated.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" shouted the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got it, Santa Claus! I've got it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Got what?" roared the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"The stick!&mdash;I mean it's got me. Help! Help!"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy was wrestling about as if engaged in combat with some
+enemy. They could not imagine what had gone wrong&mdash;what had
+caused his sudden cries of alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the divining rod!" called the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"He's found water!" shouted the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got it! I've got it! Come help me hold it. The thing's
+jerking my arms off."</p>
+
+<p>To the amazement of the Pony Rider Boys, the forked stick in
+the hands of the fat boy was performing some strange antics.
+Breathing hard, he would force it up until it was nearly upright,
+when all at once the point of the triangle would suddenly swerve
+downward, bending the rod almost to the breaking point.</p>
+
+<p>"See it? See it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most remarkable," breathed Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there can be no doubt about it," nodded the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"He's bluffing," disagreed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't look to me as if he were," returned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Take hold with me here, if you don't believe me," cried
+Stacy. "No, not on the stick, take hold of my wrists."</p>
+
+<p>Ned promptly accepted the invitation.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the tug of the divining rod was felt by the new
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>Ned let go quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh! The thing gives me the creeps."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me try it, Master Stacy," said Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't let go of it," wailed Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Step off a piece," directed the guide.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy did so, whereupon the divining rod immediately ceased
+its peculiar actions.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor took hold of it, but the rod refused to work for
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Let Santa Claus try it," suggested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>The guide did so, but with no more success than the Professor
+had had.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you it wouldn't work for me," Mr. Kringle grinned.
+"Here, Master Tad, you try it."</p>
+
+<p>Tad, with the rod grasped firmly in his hands, walked back and
+forth three times without result. On the fourth attempt, however,
+the stick suddenly bent nearly double.</p>
+
+<p>All were amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Why were we unable to get results, Mr. Kringle?" questioned
+the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"According to some French writers as much depends upon the man
+as on the divining rod. Where one succeeds another fails
+absolutely. Supposing the others take a try?"</p>
+
+<p>Walter and Ned did so, but neither could get the rod to move
+for him.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess Chunky is the champion water-finder," laughed
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it not be a good idea to find out whether or not there
+<i>is</i> water here?" asked the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," agreed the guide. "It may be so far down that we cannot
+reach it, however. You know in some parts of this region they are
+locating water with the rod and sinking artesian wells."</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;why didn't we think to bring some down with us?"
+demanded Chunky. "Can't we get any in some of the towns down
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some what?" questioned the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Artesian wells."</p>
+
+<p>A roar greeted the fat boy's question.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring down a load of artesian wells!" jeered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"An artesian well, my boy, is nothing more than a hole in the
+ground," the guide informed him, much to Chunky's chagrin.</p>
+
+<p>The spot where the divining rod had so suddenly gotten busy
+was about midway of an old water course, covered with a thick
+growth of bunch grass.</p>
+
+<p>"Get some tools, boys," directed the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>Tad ran back to camp, which lay some distance to the east of
+where they were gathered. Searching out a pick and two shovels,
+he leaped on his pony, dashing back to the arroyo.</p>
+
+<p>"That was quickly done," smiled Santa Claus. "Are all of you
+lads as quick on an errand as that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only Chunky," answered Ned solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>The guide began to dig, in which effort he was joined by Stacy
+Brown, who, with a shovel, caved in about as much dirt as he
+threw out.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, give me that shovel," commanded Ned. "You'll fill up
+the bole before we get it dug."</p>
+
+<p>Tad, having tethered his pony, took the extra shovel and went
+to work.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess it's a false alarm," decided Ned, after they were up to
+their shoulders in the hole.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be too sure. The ground is quite damp here. Try your
+rod, young man."</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky held the divining rod over the excavation, whereupon
+it drew down with even greater force than before.</p>
+
+<p>"Dig," directed the guide.</p>
+
+<p>They did so with a will.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's water!" shouted Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>They crowded about the hole, amazement written on every
+face.</p>
+
+<p>A fresh, cool stream bubbled up into the hole, causing those
+in the pit to scramble out hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of you boys run back to camp and fetch pails and
+water-bags," directed the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go. I've got the pony here," spoke up Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I want you to do something else for me."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll all go," offered Walter. The three lads started on a
+run, Chunky holding his precious divining rod tightly clasped in
+both hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it you wish?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would ride over toward that small butte and cut a
+load of brush. Want to rip-rap the outer edge of this water hole,
+so the bank will not cave in and undo all our work! Have you a
+hatchet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, in my saddlebags."</p>
+
+<p>"Good. Hurry, please."</p>
+
+<p>Tad leaped into the saddle, and putting spurs to his broncho,
+tore through the high bunch grass, above which only his head was
+now observable. In a short time he was back with the green stuff
+piled high on the saddle in front of him, with a large bundle
+tied to the cantle of the saddle behind.</p>
+
+<p>Unloading this, Butler started back at a gallop for more. When
+there was work to be done, Tad Butler was happy. Activity to him
+was a tonic that spurred him on to ever greater efforts.</p>
+
+<p>This time he found himself obliged to climb higher up the
+butte in order to get branches of available size. These he cut
+and threw down. After having procured what he thought would be
+all he could carry the lad scrambled down, and, dropping on his
+knees began tying them into bundles. The heat was sweltering, and
+occasionally be paused to wipe away the perspiration.</p>
+
+<p>"I smell smoke," sniffed Tad. "I wonder where it comes
+from?"</p>
+
+<p>The odor grew stronger, but so interested was he in his labor
+that he did not at once understand the significance of his
+discovery.</p>
+
+<p>"W-h-o-o-e-e!"</p>
+
+<p>It was a long-drawn, warning shout.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a signal!" exclaimed the lad, straightening up. "I
+wonder what's the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>As he looked toward the camp a great wall of flame seemed to
+leap from the ground between him and his companions. There it
+poised for one brief instant, then, with a roar swooped down into
+the tall bunch grass, rushing roaring and crackling toward
+him.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant he stood unbelieving, then the truth dawned
+upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"The prairie's on fire!" cried Tad.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII</h3>
+
+<h4>THE DASH FOR LIFE</h4>
+
+<p>The shouts of the Pony Rider Boys and of the guide were
+swallowed up in the roar of the flames.</p>
+
+<p>"They'll be burned alive!" whispered the lad.</p>
+
+<p>Then, all at once he realized that he himself was in dire
+peril.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have to go the other way and be quick about it at that,"
+he decided, making a dash for the pony, that already was
+whinnying with fear and tugging at its tether.</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not wait to untie the stake rope. With a sweep of his
+knife he severed it and vaulted into the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Whirling the animal about he headed to the west. To his alarm
+he suddenly discovered that the prairie fire was rapidly
+encircling him, the flames running around the outer edge of the
+bottoms with express train speed, threatening to head him off and
+envelop him. Had it not been for the long grass, which, tangling
+the feet of the pony, made full speed impossible, the race with
+the flames would have been an easy one to win. As it was, Tad
+knew that the chances were against him.</p>
+
+<p>But the dire peril in which he found himself did not daunt the
+Pony Rider Boy. Perhaps his face had grown a shade paler
+underneath the tan, but that was all. His senses were on the
+alert, his lips met in a firm pressure and the hand gripped the
+bridle rein a little more firmly, perhaps, than usual.</p>
+
+<p>Uttering a shrill cry to inform his companions that he was
+alive to his peril, and at the same time to encourage the
+broncho, Tad dug in the rowels of his spurs.</p>
+
+<p>The frightened pony cleared the ground with all four feet,
+uttering a squeal, and launching itself at the rapidly narrowing
+clear space ahead of him; and urged to greater and greater
+endeavor at every leap by the short, sharp "yips" of his
+rider.</p>
+
+<p>For all the concern that showed in his face, Tad Butler might
+have been running a horse race for a prize rather than fleeing
+for his life.</p>
+
+<p>"If I make it I'm lucky,"&mdash;commented Tad grimly. He found
+himself wondering, at the same time, how the fire had started. He
+knew that the flames first showed themselves midway between where
+he was at work and the place where his companions were engaged at
+the water hole.</p>
+
+<p>He could not understand it. Fire was necessary to use to start
+fire, and he knew that none of them had been foolish enough even
+to light a match in the dry bunch grass of the prairie.</p>
+
+<p>The flames were reaching mountain high by this time, great
+clouds of smoke rolling in on the breeze and nearly suffocating
+him.</p>
+
+<p>At times Tad was unable to see the opening ahead of him. When,
+however, the smoke lifted, giving him a momentary view, he saw
+that the gap was rapidly closing.</p>
+
+<p>All at once his attention was drawn from the closing gap.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeow! Yeow! Yeow! Y-e-o-w!"</p>
+
+<p>A series of shrill, blood curdling yells from out the pall of
+smoke and flame at the rear, bombarded his ears.</p>
+
+<p>At first he thought it was Indians; then the improbability of
+this being the case came to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeow! Yeow! Yeow!" persisted the voice behind, and it was
+coming nearer every second.</p>
+
+<p>Tad slackened the speed of his pony ever so little, despite
+the peril of his position.</p>
+
+<p>"There's somebody in there behind me, and, he'll never get out
+alive if he loses his way."</p>
+
+<p>The moment this thought occurred to him, Tad began to yell at
+the top of his voice.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly from out the thick veil of smoke burst a pony with a
+mighty snort, coming on in bounds, each one of which cleared many
+feet of ground. On the pony's back was Stacy Brown, hatless,
+coatless, his hair standing up in the breeze, his face as red as
+if it had come in actual contact with the flames.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeow!" he roared, as his pony shot past Tad as if the
+latter's mount were standing still. Where Stacy had come from,
+how he had passed through that wall of flame, Tad had not the
+slightest idea.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact the explanation was simple enough. The
+guide had sent Chunky out to assist Tad in bringing in the
+rip-rapping material. Stacy had made a detour from the camp,
+having gotten just inside the danger zone when the fire broke
+out. Guided by the butte where he knew his companion must be,
+Stacy headed for that point. There he came upon Tad's trail, and
+began yelling to attract his attention. He had heard Tad's
+answering cry, and this inspired the fat boy to renewed
+efforts.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy, now that he had passed Tad, slowed up ever so little.
+He had passed his companion so swiftly that he was unable to
+determine whether or not Tad were in distress.</p>
+
+<p>The latter came up, overhauling Stacy in a few moments. Both
+ponies were steaming from the terrific gruelling they were giving
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"What you doing here?" exploded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Same thing you are."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Trying to save myself from being burned alive&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't slow up! Don't slow up!" shouted Tad. "Keep going!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am. Wat's matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see what you had to come tumbling into this mess
+for," objected Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't tumble in. Rode in. Came to help you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Precious lot of help you'll be to me. Lucky if we're not both
+burned with our boots on. See! The flame's narrowing in on us.
+More steam, Chunky! More steam!" urged Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't. Blow up the boiler if I do," Stacy could not be other
+than humorous, even under their present trying situation.</p>
+
+<p>"That's better than burning out your fires, and it's quicker
+too&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>All at once, Chunky uttered a terrible howl. His pony had
+stepped into a hole and gone down floundering in the long grass,
+Chunky himself having been hurled over the animal's head, landing
+several feet in advance.</p>
+
+<p>"Help! Help!"</p>
+
+<p>The rest was lost as the fat boy's face plowed the earth
+filling mouth, eyes and nostrils.</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not lose his presence of mind, though events had been
+following each other in such quick succession.</p>
+
+<p>Changing the reins to his right hand and bunching them there,
+he grasped the pommel of the saddle, driving his own pony
+straight at the kicking, floundering Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>The pony swerved ever so little, Tad's body swept down, and
+when it rose, his fingers were fastened in the shirt collar of
+his companion, with Chunky yelling and choking, as he was being
+dragged over the ground at almost a killing pace.</p>
+
+<p>Tad had no time to do more than hold on to his friend. He
+dared not stop to lift him to the saddle just then. The flames
+were roaring behind them and on either side, leaving a long,
+narrow lane ahead, through which lay their only hope of
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>"Buck up! Buck up, Chunky!" shouted Tad, himself taking a
+fresh brace in the stirrups, for the weight of the fat boy's
+dragging body was slowly pulling Tad from the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy was howling like an Indian, not from fear, but from
+anger at the rough usage to which he was being subjected. He did
+not stop to think that it was the only way his life might be
+saved&mdash;nor that his own pony lay back there in the bunch
+grass amid the flame and smoke.</p>
+
+<p>Tad knew it.</p>
+
+<p>Now, by a mighty effort Tad righted himself again, and,
+leaning forward, threw one arm about the pony's neck, trusting to
+the animal to follow the outward trail to safety of its own
+accord.</p>
+
+<p>Tad felt a sudden jolt that nearly caused him to slide from
+his pony on the side opposite Chunky. At the same time, the
+strain on the lad's arm was suddenly released.</p>
+
+<p>Tad was up on his saddle like a flash. His right hand held the
+fat boy's shirt, while a series of howls to the rear told him
+where the owner of the shirt lay.</p>
+
+<p>Tad groaned. Pulling his pony fairly back on its haunches, he
+dashed back where Stacy lay kicking, entangling himself deeper
+and deeper in the bunch grass.</p>
+
+<p>Had Tad not had presence of mind they both might have perished
+right there. He was off like a flash. With supreme strength, he
+grasped the body of his fallen companion, raising him into the
+saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on!" he shouted. "Don't you dare fall off!"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy clung like a monkey to a pony in a circus race.</p>
+
+<p>"Y-i-i-p!" trilled Tad. He had no time to mount. Already he
+could feel the hot breath of the flames on his cheek.</p>
+
+<p>The broncho was off with a bound.</p>
+
+<p>"Tad! Tad!" cried Chunky in sudden alarm, now realizing that
+he was alone. "Whe&mdash;where are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"H-h-h-h-e-r-e!"</p>
+
+<p>"W-w-where?"</p>
+
+<p>"H-h-h-holding to the b-r-r-oncho's t-tail."</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" howled Stacy, as, turning in the saddle, he discovered
+his companion being fairly jerked through the air, holding fast
+to the pony's tail, the lad's feet hardly touching the ground at
+all. The broncho, that ordinarily would have resented such
+treatment, too fully occupied in saving his own life from the
+flames, gave no heed to the weight he was dragging, and it is
+doubtful if he even realized there was any additional weight
+there.</p>
+
+<p>With a final, desperate leap, the broncho shot out ahead of
+the narrowing lane. Like the jaws of some great monster, the two
+lapping lines of fire closed in behind them, roaring as if with
+deadly rage.</p>
+
+<p>The pony dashed out into a broad, open water course, whose
+dry, glistening sands would prove an effectual barrier to the
+prairie fire.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, though everything was swimming before his eyes, realized
+quickly that they were now well out of danger.</p>
+
+<p>"St-t-t-top him. I c-c-c-an't let go if you d-d-don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Whoa! Whoa! Don't you know enough to quit when you're
+through?" chided Chunky, tugging at the reins. The broncho
+carried them some distance before the lad was able to pull him
+down. Finally he did so.</p>
+
+<p>"Leggo!" he shouted, at the same time whirling the pony
+sharply about, fairly "cracking the whip" with Tad Butler.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky's clever foresight probably saved Tad Butler's life,
+for, instantly the pony found itself free, it began bucking and
+kicking in a circle, kicking a ring all round the compass before
+it finally decided to settle down on all fours. Finishing, it
+meekly lowered its nose to the ground and now, as docile as a
+kitten after having supped on warm milk, began dozing, the steam
+rising in a cloud from its sides.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of all the fool fools, you're the champion fool!"
+growled Stacy, slipping from the saddle and surveying the broncho
+with disapproving eyes. "Hah! I guess we'd been done to a turn by
+this if it hadn't been for you, just the same. Hello, Tad!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad had doubled up in a heap where the tail of the broncho had
+flung him. He was well-nigh spent, but he smiled back at his
+companion, who stood on a slight rise of ground, almost a heroic
+figure.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky's shirt was entirely missing, his skin red from the
+heat, ridged with scratches where he had come in violent contact
+with cactus plants, his hair tousled and gray with dust.</p>
+
+<p>"Well you are a sight," grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't take a prize at a baby show yourself," retorted
+Stacy, spicily.</p>
+
+<p>Tad's clothes were torn, and his limbs were black and blue all
+the way down where the hoofs of the broncho had raked them again
+and again.</p>
+
+<p>"My arms feel a foot longer than they did. What are you
+looking at?"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's eyes grew large and luminous as he gazed off over the
+plains.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look, Tad!" he whispered.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII</h3>
+
+<h4>FOLLOWING A HOT TRAIL</h4>
+
+<p>"Fire! Fire!" cried Professor Zepplin, leaping up from where
+he had been leaning over, watching the water bubbling in the
+bottom of the excavation they had made.</p>
+
+<p>The guide had been hanging over the hole, dipping water to
+Ned, who was turning it into the water-bags.</p>
+
+<p>"Where, where?" demanded Mr. Kringle explosively. He also
+sprang to his feet. "It's a prairie fire!"</p>
+
+<p>"The boys are caught. They'll perish!" exclaimed Professor
+Zepplin, with blanching face. "Go to them, go to them, Mr.
+Kringle!" he begged.</p>
+
+<p>"No living thing could get through that wall of fire,
+Professor," announced the guide impressively. "We'll shout and
+perhaps, if alive, they'll bear us."</p>
+
+<p>They did so, with the result already known.</p>
+
+<p>"Which direction did Master Stacy take?" Mr. Kringle
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw him riding down that way," replied Walter, pointing
+excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, perhaps he is safe outside of the fire zone. Some of
+you hurry back to the camp, The stock may take fright and
+stampede. No, we'll all go. The wind may shift at any moment, and
+while I do not think the flames could reach the camp, all our
+animals might be suffocated, even if they did not succeed in
+getting away."</p>
+
+<p>"But you're not going to desert Tad and Chunky, are you?"
+demanded Walter indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not. What can we do here? We must get the ponies
+first; then we'll hurry to them. I'm afraid they've been caught,"
+answered the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"If there's any way of escape you may depend upon it that
+Master Tad has discovered that way," answered the Professor. "He
+is a resourceful boy, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But the rest were already dashing madly toward the camp and
+Professor Zepplin began to do so with all speed to catch up with
+them. The hot breath of the prairie fire had brought the color to
+his blanched cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"How&mdash;how do you think the fire started?" stammered the
+Professor, when he at last came up with the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"It was set afire," answered Kris Kringle grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"Set!" shouted the Professor and the two boys all in one
+breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"By whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"That remains to be seen."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that one of the boys was imprudent enough to
+build a fire in that grass? Surely they would not have been so
+foolish as to do a thing like that."</p>
+
+<p>"As I said, that remains to be seen. The first thing to be
+done is to get to them as quickly as possible, though I don't
+know that we can do any good. They're either out of it, by this
+time, or else they're not," added Mr. Kringle suggestively.
+"Professor, I wish you and one of the boys would get out your
+rifles, mount your ponies and watch the camp, while two of us go
+in search of the lost ones."</p>
+
+<p>"Watch the camp?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"For what reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"Merely as a precaution."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll attend to that. I want all of you to get after Tad and
+Stacy. We don't care about the camp particularly, when compared
+with two human lives."</p>
+
+<p>The smoke was rolling over them in such dense clouds that the
+camp was wholly obscured from view until they were upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick! Get the horses before they break away!" commanded the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't find them!" shouted Ned, who had bounded on ahead and
+disappeared in the great suffocating cloud.</p>
+
+<p>Walter was only a few steps behind him, both boys groping,
+blinking and coughing as the smoke got into eyes and lungs.</p>
+
+<p>"Lie down when it gets stronger than you can stand. There's
+always a current of fresh air near the ground," called the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>Both lads adopted his suggestion instantly, and they were none
+too soon, for already they were getting dizzy. After a few long
+breaths, they were up, groping about once more in search of the
+stock.</p>
+
+<p>"Over to you right," called the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"We've been there. They're not there at all," answered
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the guide had dived into the cloud.</p>
+
+<p>"The stock has gone," they heard him shoat.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they stampeded?" roared the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I'll find out in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>"Queer that this smoke blows two ways at once," said
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a slight breeze blowing this way," explained Ned.
+"Not enough, however, to turn the fire back. It has got too good
+a start."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a weird "c-o-o-e-e" sounded to the right of them.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's the guide, Walt. He's trying to call the boys, to see if
+they are alive," explained Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so. That cry is for some other purpose. I'm
+going over where he is to find out what it does mean. Come
+on."</p>
+
+<p>Together the lads ran as fast as they could in the direction
+from which the guide's voice had come.</p>
+
+<p>They found him with hands shaped into a megaphone, uttering
+his shrill cries. He made no answer to their questions as to what
+he was trying to do.</p>
+
+<p>All at once off in the cloud they heard rapid hoofbeats. The
+boys glanced at each other in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the ponies returning," breathed Walter Perkins.</p>
+
+<p>Ned shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>The cries now took on a more insistent tone, and a moment
+later two ponies came whinnying into the camp, snorting with
+fear. Kris Kringle spoke to them sharply, whereupon they came
+trotting up to him with every evidence of pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>The lads were amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you boys shoot a rope?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," they answered together.</p>
+
+<p>"Which one is the better at it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ned is more expert than I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Take one of my ponies. We've got to go after the stock. Rope
+and bring them in as fast as possible. It's getting late, and it
+will be dark before we know it. There's not more than two hours
+of daylight left."</p>
+
+<p>"I can take my pony and help," began Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't any pony. They're all gone."</p>
+
+<p>Ned and the guide dashed from the camp at break-neck speed.
+Emerging from the dust cloud they saw some of the stock far off
+on the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"There they are!" cried Ned</p>
+
+<p>"Thank goodness, they're all together. And they are not
+running. We've got them bunched."</p>
+
+<p>"Were they afraid of the smoke? What made them break
+away?"</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't break away."</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"Their tethers were cut and they were sent adrift," answered
+the guide grimly.</p>
+
+<p>Ned was speechless with surprise.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the ponies, objecting to being roped, ran away,
+necessitating a lively chase. Kris Kringle worked with the
+precision of an automatic gun and with proportionate speed. In
+half an hour they had roped all the ponies, and, with the burros
+trailing along behind, started back to camp as rapidly as
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>A heavy pall of smoke still hung over the camp and all the
+surrounding country.</p>
+
+<p>Once more they staked down the ponies and pack animals, and
+urging vigilance on the part of Professor Zepplin, Ned and the
+guide dashed away at full gallop in search of the two missing
+lads.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we going through the fire?" questioned Ned
+apprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>"We're going to try it. The worst of it must have passed
+before this, but we may have to turn back or turn out for spots.
+It's the shortest way, and the only course to follow if we want
+to know what has become of them."</p>
+
+<p>Spreading out a little they continued on their way, the ponies
+snorting, threatening to whirl about and race back into the open
+plain. The ground was like a furnace and the grass smouldered
+beneath them, heating their feet and singeing their fetlocks.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Ned's pony reared into the air, bucked and hurled its
+rider far over into the smouldering bunch grass.</p>
+
+<p>Ned uttered a yell of warning as he felt himself going.</p>
+
+<p>The guide wheeled like a flash. Ned's mount had whirled and
+was away like a shot. But the guide was after him with even
+greater speed. The chase came to an abrupt ending some few rods
+farther on, when Kris Kringle's lariat squirmed out, bringing the
+fleeing pony to the ground with its nose in the hot dust.</p>
+
+<p>Without dismounting, the guide turned his own mount, and
+fairly dragging the unwilling pony behind him, pounded back to
+the place where Ned had been unhorsed.</p>
+
+<p>"Grab him!" commanded the guide to Ned, who had quickly
+scrambled to his feet. "What was it that he saw?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Guess he made up his mind to go back."</p>
+
+<p>"No; he saw something. Hang on to him and cover the ground all
+about you till you find it."</p>
+
+<p>"Wha&mdash;what do you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind. Look!"</p>
+
+<p>"Here! Here it is!" cried Ned aghast.</p>
+
+<p>The guide was at his side instantly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pony," gasped the Pony Rider boy.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle was off his own mount instantly, and bidding Ned
+hold the animal, he made a brief examination of the fallen horse,
+after which he darted here and there, unheeding the fact that the
+still burning grass was blistering his feet through the heavy
+soles of his boots.</p>
+
+<p>For several rods Kringle ran along the faint trail that Tad
+and Stacy had left, or rather, that the fire had left after
+passing over it.</p>
+
+<p>"They beat their way out here. We may find them later. Come
+on!"</p>
+
+<p>Again Ned and the guide dashed away, both keeping their gaze
+on the smoking prairie about them. The smoke now was almost more
+than they could bear.</p>
+
+<p>"Do&mdash;do you think they are alive?" asked Ned
+unsteadily.</p>
+
+<p>"So far. If they are not, it's not their fault. The Professor
+is right. Those boys have pluck enough to pull them through, but
+sometimes pluck alone will not do it. A prairie fire is no
+respecter of pluck."</p>
+
+<p>They burst out into an open space. There were no signs of
+either of the missing boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Something has happened to them. We must have missed them,"
+announced the guide.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV</h3>
+
+<h4>AGAINST BIG ODDS</h4>
+
+<p>"What is it, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"There!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad jerked his companion flat on the ground, flattening
+himself beside Stacy at the same instant.</p>
+
+<p>What had caused their sudden alarm was the sight of two
+Indians, sitting on their ponies without saddles, some distance
+out on the open plain. The redskins were wrapped in their
+brightly colored blankets, which enveloped them from head to
+knees. Even the hands were invisible beneath the folds of the
+blankets.</p>
+
+<p>"D-d-do you think they saw us, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. It's safe to say they did. Indian eyes don't
+miss very much. You ought to know that, by this time. I wish we
+could make that pony lie down."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's too afraid of the ground&mdash;thinks it's still hot,
+and I don't blame him. The fire has singed him pretty well as it
+is."</p>
+
+<p>The Indians sat their mounts as motionless as statues, the
+ponies headed directly toward where the two lads were lying.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet they're got guns under those blankets," decided Tad.
+"You can't trust an Indian even while you are looking at
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Anybody'd think you'd been hunting Indians all your life,"
+growled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"They've been hunting me mostly," grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"And usually caught you," added Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like this lying here as if we were scared of
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"But, what else can we do, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I. Wish I had a shirt. I'll spoil my complexion
+clear down to my waist. Resides, I'm not fit to be seen."</p>
+
+<p>"You're lucky to be alive," growled Tad. "I'm going to get out
+of this."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, and you'll know. I'm going to get on the pony; then,
+as soon as I'm in the saddle, you jump up behind me and we'll
+start back to camp."</p>
+
+<p>"Not&mdash;not through that fire?" protested Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I don't dare try it. I'm afraid we'd get lost in the
+smoke and perhaps get burned as well. We'll ride out some
+distance, then turn to the left and try to go around the burned
+district."</p>
+
+<p>"What if the Indians chase us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe they will. They'll hardly dare do that. And,
+besides, these may be friendly Indians."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh!" grunted Stacy. "They look it."</p>
+
+<p>Tad got up boldly, and without even looking toward the silent
+red men, began fussing about his saddle, cinching the girths, and
+straightening the saddle. His last act before mounting was to see
+that the coils of his lariat were in order.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," announced the lad, vaulting into the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy scrambled up behind him without loss of time, and they
+rode out into the open, the fat boy peering apprehensively over
+his companion's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"You keep watch of them, Chunky, but don't let them see you
+doing it. I won't look at them at all. We don't want them to
+think we're afraid."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy fidgeted.</p>
+
+<p>"You bet I'll watch 'em. Wish I had my rifle."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh!"</p>
+
+<p>"You have distinguished yourself quite enough with that rifle
+as it is. We don't want any more of your fancy shooting."</p>
+
+<p>"There they go," warned Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"I see them." Tad had been cautiously observing the horsemen
+out of the corners of his eyes. "Moving in the same direction we
+are. I don't like the looks of it. Still, if they don't get any
+nearer we may be thankful."</p>
+
+<p>The pony carrying the boys was walking easily, and the mounts
+of the Indians were doing the same.</p>
+
+<p>"Jog a little," suggested Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good idea. It will tell us quickly whether they are
+trying to keep up with us."</p>
+
+<p>He touched the pony lightly with his spurs. The little animal
+switched its tail, for its sides were tender, and started
+off.</p>
+
+<p>"There they go, Tad! Jogging the same gait as ours!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad's face took on the stubborn look it always wore when he
+had determined upon a certain course of action.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll beat them yet, even if there are only two of them. I
+wish there weren't two of us on this nag."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get off and walk," suggested. Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll do nothing of the sort. That would be a nice thing to
+do, wouldn't it? They'd round you up quicker'n they could a lame
+burro."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know that sage hen we had?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, what's that got to do with our present predicament?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was wondering why there aren't any sage roosters?"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be a sage rooster, with your head off, first thing you
+know," snapped Tad in disgust. "Can't you be serious for a
+minute? Don't you see we are in a fix?"</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-huh!"</p>
+
+<p>"There, that fellow is trying to head us off."</p>
+
+<p>One of the Indians had shot away from his companion, running
+obliquely toward the point to which Tad was headed.</p>
+
+<p>The red man had gotten quite a start before the boys caught
+the significance of his manoeuvre.</p>
+
+<p>Tad dug in the spurs.</p>
+
+<p>At that instant the fat boy's hands had been removed from Tad,
+to whose body they had been clinging.</p>
+
+<p>The pony leaped forward, and Stacy slid over its rump, hitting
+the ground with a jolt that jarred him.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" howled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, instantly divining what had happened, pulled up sharply;
+wheeled and raced back to where his companion was still
+complaining loudly and rubbing his body.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up!" roared Tad, leaning over and grasping Stacy by the
+hair of his head.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy was jerked sharply to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick! Quick, climb up here!"</p>
+
+<p>With the help of his companion, the lad scrambled up behind
+Tad again, muttering and rubbing himself.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the leading horseman had wholly outdistanced
+them, and his pony was now loping along easily, while the second
+Indian appeared to be riding directly toward them, at right
+angles to the direction in which they were traveling.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the two Indians began riding about the boys in a
+circle, uttering short little "yips," intended to terrify the
+lads, but not loud enough to be heard any great distance
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang on! We're going to ride for keeps now!" warned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy threw both arms about his companion's waist as the
+pony let out into a swift run. At first Tad thought he had gotten
+safely out of the circle, only to discover that they had headed
+him again.</p>
+
+<p>The circle was narrowing, and the Indians were gradually
+drawing in on them.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's eyes were growing larger every minute, perhaps more
+from astonishment than from fear. Then, too, he could not but
+admire the riding of their pursuers. Even the blankets of the
+Indians appeared not to be disturbed in the least by their rapid
+riding, the horsemen sitting a little sideways on the ponies'
+backs, the reins bunched loosely in their left bands.</p>
+
+<p>"They've got us, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"They shan't get us!" retorted Tad stubbornly. "If they don't
+use their guns&mdash;and I don't believe they will&mdash;we'll
+beat them yet."</p>
+
+<p>If Stacy was doubtful he did not say so.</p>
+
+<p>"If they get close to us, you be ready to let go of me when I
+give the word," cautioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"What for? What you going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet. That depends upon circumstances. I'm not
+going to let them have it all their own way while I've got a pony
+under me. We may get help any minute, too, so the longer we can
+put off a clash the better it will be for us."</p>
+
+<p>"Who you mean&mdash;Santa Claus?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"They're closing in now," said Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your hands away from my waist."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'll fall off, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"Slip one hand through under my belt and take hold of the
+cantle with the other. Sit as low as you can so as not to get in
+my way."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy obeyed his companion's directions without further
+comment, but he was all curiosity to know what was going to
+happen next.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians were drawing nearer every second now. The boys
+could see the expressions on their evil faces, intensified by the
+streaks of yellow and red paint.</p>
+
+<p>"They look as though they'd stuck their heads in a paint
+pail," was Chunky's muttered comment.</p>
+
+<p>The blankets fell away from the racing savages, flapped on the
+rumps of the bobbing ponies for a few seconds and then slipped to
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>A rifle was reposing in each man's holster, as Tad observed
+instantly. He was thankful to note that the guns were not in the
+hands of the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>The lad's right hand had dropped carelessly to the saddle
+horn, the fingers cautiously gathering in the coils of the lariat
+that hung there. The red men did not appear to have observed his
+act.</p>
+
+<p>"Lie low!" commanded Tad, scarcely above a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy settled down slowly so as not to attract attention.</p>
+
+<p>One horseman shot directly across Tad's course, striking the
+lad's pony full in the face as he did so, and causing the animal
+to brace himself so suddenly as to nearly unseat both boys.</p>
+
+<p>Tad's rope was in the air in a twinkling.</p>
+
+<p>A warning shout from the second Indian, who was just to the
+rear of them, came too late. The rope shot true to its mark and
+the first savage, with back half-turned, had failed to observe it
+coming.</p>
+
+<p>The great loop dropped over his head. The pony braced itself
+and Tad took a quick turn of the rope about the pommel of his
+saddle.</p>
+
+<p>The result was instantaneous. The Indian was catapulted from
+his saddle with arms pinioned to his aide.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye-ow!" howled Chunky; unable to restrain his enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not even hear him.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out! Here comes the other one!" warned the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>But Tad was too busily engaged in keeping the line taut about
+the roped Indian. The fellow was struggling on the ground,
+fighting to free himself, while the boy with the rope was
+manoeuvring his pony in a series of lightning-like movements that
+made the fat boy's head swim.</p>
+
+<p>"Take care of him, Chunky!! I can't," gasped Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's eyes took on a belligerent expression as the second
+savage bore down upon them, with knees gripped tightly against
+the side of his pony, half raising himself above the animal's
+back, reins dropped on the pony's neck. The Indian was guiding
+his mount by the pressure of legs and knees alone.</p>
+
+<p>The angry redskin was making futile attempts to get into a
+position where he might grab the active Tad. He did not seem to
+take into account the cringing figure behind the boy who had
+roped the other Indian.</p>
+
+<p>All at once, at the opportune moment, his pony forging ahead,
+the Indian's hand shot out. The red, bony fingers were closing
+upon Tad Butler's right shoulder, when all at once something
+happened.</p>
+
+<p>The cringing fat boy rose. The right hand that had been
+clinging to the cantle was launched out. His body, thrown forward
+at the same time, lent the blow added force.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky's fist came into violent contact with the Indian's jaw.
+Mr. Redman disappeared from the back of his pony so quickly that,
+for a second, Stacy could scarcely believe his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!" howled the fat boy. "Beat it for the tall
+grass, Tad!"</p>
+
+<p>A quick glance behind him, revealed the true state of affairs
+to Tad Butler. He dug in the spurs, clinging to the lariat for a
+few feet, then suddenly releasing it, as the pony leaped away
+under the stinging pressure of the spurs.</p>
+
+<p>"Duck! Duck! They're going to shoot!" shouted Tad.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV</h3>
+
+<h4>HIT BY A DRY STORM</h4>
+
+<p>"There it goes! Lower, Chunky!"</p>
+
+<p>A rifle had crashed somewhere to the left of them.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's curiosity getting the better of him, he had twisted
+his body around, and was peering back; but he was bobbing up and
+down so fast that he found it difficult to fix his eyes on any
+one point long enough to distinguish what that object was.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look!" he cried, when in a long rise of the pony his
+eyes had caught something definite.</p>
+
+<p>The roped Indian was running for his pony, which he caught,
+leaping to its back and dashing away madly.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold up! Hold up! There's something doing," shouted the fat,
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>Tad swerved a little, turning to his left. Rifles were
+banging, and the dust was spurting up under the feet of the
+savage's racing pony.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, the second Indian had recovered from the blow
+that Stacy had landed on his jaw, and he too was in his saddle in
+a twinkling, tearing madly cross the plain.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy Brown uttered a series of wild whoops and yells. He knew
+their assailants were running and that some one was shooting at
+the Indians, but who it was the fat boy could only guess.</p>
+
+<p>Two ponies suddenly dashed out from the low-lying smoke cloud.
+One of their riders was swinging his sombrero and cheering; the
+other was firing his rifle after the fleeing savages.</p>
+
+<p>"Hooray, it's Santa Claus," howled Stacy, fairly beside
+himself with excitement. Even Tad caught something of his
+companion's spirit of enthusiasm. He swung his hand and started
+galloping toward the two horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot 'em! Kill 'em!" howled Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>But Santa Claus merely shook his head, and after refilling the
+magazine of his rifle slipped it into the holster.</p>
+
+<p>"It would only make trouble and probably cause an uprising if
+I did. They know I could have winged them both had I wanted to,"
+he grinned. "Well, you boys are a sight."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I lost my shirt," interjected Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"And I suppose you fell in," chuckled Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I fell off."</p>
+
+<p>"We're lucky to be alive," laughed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"You are that. I see now that Professor Zepplin was right when
+he said you could take care of yourself. Never saw anything quite
+so slick as the way you roped that redskin&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;and I punched the other one," glowed Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see us?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we saw the whole proceeding. But you were so mixed up
+that we couldn't fire without danger of hitting one of you boys.
+Wonder what those Apaches think struck them," laughed the guide.
+"How did you get through the fire?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad explained briefly; at the same time accounting for the
+loss of Stacy's shirt.</p>
+
+<p>"I bet that the fellow with the canary-wing face has a sore
+jaw," bubbled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt of it, Master Stacy. I didn't suppose you had such a
+punch as that. You're a good Indian fighter."</p>
+
+<p>"Always was," answered the fat boy, swelling with
+importance.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, we'll have to hurry back It will be dark before we
+reach camp, as it is, and the Professor will be worrying about
+you."</p>
+
+<p>They turned about, and, heading across the burned area,
+started for camp. Fitful blazes were springing up here and there,
+but all danger had, by this time, passed, though the smoke still
+hung heavy and the odor of burned vegetation smote the nostrils
+unpleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy sniffed the air suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Tastes like a drug store fire I smelled once in Chillicothe,"
+he averred.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't made up my mind, yet, how that fire started, Mr.
+Kringle," wondered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I have," replied the guide tersely.</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was set afire!"</p>
+
+<p>"By whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"By one of those savages, or by somebody who was with them.
+They must have been watching you all the time. Did you recognize
+either of them as the fellow you knocked down the other
+might?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I don't think I would know the Indian. The light was too
+uncertain at the fire dance, and then again, all Indians look
+alike to me."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a narrow escape."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think they'll come back again?" questioned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt it. They won't if they recognized me. They know me.
+They've done business with me before."</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin and Walter were overjoyed when at last the
+party rode into camp and they learned that both boys were safe.
+The lads were obliged to go all over their experiences again for
+the benefit of the Professor and Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"It's getting worse and worse," decided the Professor
+helplessly. "I don't know where all this is going to end. I
+thought when we got a new guide&mdash;but what's the use? Do you
+think we had better start to-night, Mr. Kringle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. There is no necessity."</p>
+
+<p>"What am I going to do for a pony?" asked Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"You can ride one of mine. I always take two when on a long
+journey," replied the guide.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky's first act after reaching camp, was to provide himself
+with a shirt. After donning it, he announced that he had an
+appetite and wanted to know when they were going to have
+supper.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you had supper hours ago," scoffed Ned. "Want another
+one already?"</p>
+
+<p>"That wasn't supper, that was four o'clock tea. Indian
+fighters must have real food."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop teasing. We'll give the 'ittle baby his milk," returned
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>That night, Kris Kringle remained on guard himself. He would
+not trust the guardianship of the camp to any of the boys, for he
+fully expected that they would receive a visit from one or more
+of the Indians, though he did not tell the others so. But nothing
+occurred to disturb the camp, and the boys, despite their trying
+experiences, slept soundly, awakening in the morning fresh and
+active, ready and anxious for any further adventures.</p>
+
+<p>The party set out shortly after sunrise, and traveled all day
+across the uneven plains, across short mountain ranges, through
+deep gorges and rugged foothills.</p>
+
+<p>Crossing an open space the guide espied a bottle glistening in
+the sunlight.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a bottle," pointed the guide. "Want it?"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy glanced at it indifferently;</p>
+
+<p>"What do I want of a bottle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll take it," decided the guide, dismounting and
+stowing the abandoned piece of glass in his saddle bags.</p>
+
+<p>"Bottles are good for only two things."</p>
+
+<p>"And what are they, Master Stacy?" questioned the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"To keep things in and to shoot at," replied the fat boy
+wisely.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody laughed at that.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess that embodies everything you can say about bottles,"
+smiled the Professor. "Your logic, at times, young man, is
+unassailable."</p>
+
+<p>Chunky nodded. He had a faint idea of what Professor Zepplin
+meant.</p>
+
+<p>Late that afternoon the travelers came upon a shack in the
+foothills, where an old rancher, a hermit, lived when not tending
+his little flock of sheep, most of which, Kris Kringle said, the
+old man had stolen from droves that came up over the trail going
+north.</p>
+
+<p>He was an interesting old character, this hermit, and the boys
+decided that they would like to make camp and have him take
+supper with them. This the Professor and the guide readily agreed
+to, for everyone was hot and dusty and the bronchos were nervous
+and ill-natured.</p>
+
+<p>The boys found the old rancher talkative enough on all
+subjects save himself. When Chunky asked him where he came from,
+and what for, the old man's face flushed angrily.</p>
+
+<p>At the first opportunity the guide took the fat boy aside for
+some fatherly advice.</p>
+
+<p>"In this country it isn't good policy to be too curious about
+a man's family affairs. He's likely to resent it in a way you
+won't like. Most fellows out here have reasons for being out of
+the world, beyond what's apparent on the surface."</p>
+
+<p>Chunky heeded the advice and asked no more personal questions
+for the next hour, though he did forget himself before the
+evening was ended.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to be having pretty dry weather down here," said the
+Professor, by way of starting the old man to talking.</p>
+
+<p>"Yep. Haven't had any rain in this belt fer the last two
+years."</p>
+
+<p>"Two years!" exclaimed the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Yep. Had a few light dews, but that's all," replied the
+hermit.</p>
+
+<p>"Looks to me as if you were going to get some to-night,"
+announced Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon not."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'm no judge of weather."</p>
+
+<p>Even as Tad spoke there was a low muttering of thunder, and
+the far lightning flashed pale and green, and rose on the long
+horizon to the southwest.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle heard the far away growl. Springing up, he began
+staking down the tents.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good idea. We lost our whole outfit on our last
+trip. Think they'll stand a blow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they will when I get through with them. Have we any
+more stakes in camp?"</p>
+
+<p>"There should be some in the kit."</p>
+
+<p>Tad searched until he found several more stakes, and with
+these and the emergency ropes, they made the tents secure.</p>
+
+<p>By the time they had done so, the heavens had grown black and
+menacing. They could see the storm sweeping down on them. It was
+a magnificent sight, and the lads were so lost in observing its
+grandeur that they forgot to feel any alarm.</p>
+
+<p>A cloud of dust accompanied the advance guard of the
+storm.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon there ain't any rain in them clouds," commented the
+old man. "There's plenty of the other thing, though."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the other thing?" questioned Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Lightning."</p>
+
+<p>Even as he spoke a bolt descended right in the center of the
+camp, tearing a hole in the earth and hurling a cloud of dirt and
+dust many feet up into the air.</p>
+
+<p>The force of the explosion knocked some of the party flat.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky picked himself up and carefully brushed his clothes;
+then, solemnly walked out and sat down on the spot where the
+lightning had struck.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here! What are you doing out there?" demanded the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Sitting on the lightning."</p>
+
+<p>"You come in here! And quick, at that!"</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! Guess I know what I'm doing. Lightning never strikes
+twice in the same place. I'm&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>By this time Kris Kringle had the fat boy by the collar,
+hustling him to the protection of one of the tents.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had they reached it than a crash that seemed as if
+it had split the earth wide open descended upon them. Balls of
+fire shot off in every direction. One went right through the tent
+where they were huddled, hurling the Pony Rider Boys in a
+heap.</p>
+
+<p>They scrambled up calling to each other nervously.</p>
+
+<p>The shock had extinguished the lantern that hung in the tent.
+The guide relighted it, and, stepping outside to see what had
+happened, pointed to the place where Chunky had been sitting but
+a few minutes before.</p>
+
+<p>The bolt had struck in the identical spot where the previous
+one had landed.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, young man, there's an object lesson for you," Mr.
+Kringle said, with a grim smile.</p>
+
+<p>"And there's another!" replied Chunky, pointing to the outside
+of the tent.</p>
+
+<p>There lay the old rancher, whose absence they had not noted.
+He had been in the tent with them when they last saw him and how
+he had gotten out there none knew. The rancher had been stripped
+of every vestige of clothing by the freaky lightning.</p>
+
+<p>"He's dead," crooned Stacy solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Get water, quick! He's been struck by lightning!" commanded
+the guide, making systematic efforts to bring the old man back to
+consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy ran for the water-bags.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid it is useless, Mr. Kringle," warned, the
+Professor, failing to find a pulse. The boys were standing about
+fanning the victim, having one by one dumped the contents of
+their canteens in his face.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy returned with a water-bag after a little.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I&mdash;I've got an idea," he exploded, as with eyes
+wide open he attempted to tell them something.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still. We've got something else to do besides listening
+to your foolishness," chided Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky, we're trying to save this man's life. Give me that
+bag," commanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The two older men were working desperately on the patient.
+Stacy stood around, fidgeting a little, but making no further
+attempt to enlighten them as to what his new idea was.</p>
+
+<p>After a time the rancher began to show signs of recovering. He
+gasped a few times then opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What kicked me?" he asked, with a half-grin.</p>
+
+<p>They could all afford to laugh now, and they did. The rancher
+refused their offer of clothes, saying he had another suit in his
+shack.</p>
+
+<p>"That's twice the stuff has knocked me out. Next time it'll
+git me for keeps," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Does it strike here very often?" questioned the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Allus."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, there must be some mineral substance in the soil."</p>
+
+<p>"No, ain't nothing like that. Jest contrariness that's all.
+Hit my shack once, and 'cause 'twas raining, bored holes in the
+roof so the place got all wet inside."</p>
+
+<p>"But it isn't raining now. Doesn't it usually rain when you
+have a thunder storm here?" asked the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"No. Ain't had no rain in nigh onto two year," the hermit
+reiterated.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd better go and put on some clothes," suggested Kris
+Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess that's right."</p>
+
+<p>The old man seemed to have forgotten his condition. The others
+had wrapped a blanket around him, which seemed to satisfy his
+demand for clothes. Gathering up the blanket he strolled
+leisurely toward his cabin, undisturbed by his recent
+experience.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing like getting used to it," chuckled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, now we'll hear what your new idea is, Chunky?" jeered
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, what is it?" urged Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing much."</p>
+
+<p>"Never is," cut in Walter Perkins, a little maliciously.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I got an idea the ponies tried to kick holes in the
+lightning."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody laughed loudly. They could well afford to laugh, now
+that the danger had passed.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think that?" asked the guide, eyeing him
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause they're dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" shouted the boys.</p>
+
+<p>All hands dashed from the tent, Stacy regarding them with
+soulful eyes, after which he surreptitiously slipped a biscuit
+into his pocket and strolled out after them.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI</h3>
+
+<h4>CHUNKY'S NEW IDEA</h4>
+
+<p>Three of the ponies, they found, had been knocked down and so
+severely shocked that they were only just beginning to regain
+consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Ned, turning on Stacy
+savagely.</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't let me. Maybe next time I've got an idea, you'll
+stop and listen."</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle's face wore a broad grin.</p>
+
+<p>"Master Stacy is right. He tried hard enough to tell us," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky was humming blithely as the party set out next morning.
+He was pretty well satisfied with himself, for had he not been
+through a prairie fire, knocked a savage Apache off his horse,
+saved himself and his companions, besides having just escaped
+from being struck by lightning? Stacy swelled out his chest and
+held his chin a little bit higher than usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky's got a swelled head," said Ned, nodding in the
+direction of the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Swelled chest, you mean," laughed Walter. "Nobody has a
+better right. Chunky isn't half as big a fool as he'd have
+everybody believe. When we think we are having lots of fun with
+him he's really having sport with us. And those Indians&mdash;
+say, Ned, do you think they will bother us any more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Chunky," retorted Ned. "He's the oracle of the
+party."</p>
+
+<p>"I will," answered Walter, motioning for Stacy to join them,
+which the latter did leisurely. "We want to know if you think
+we've seen the last of the Apaches? Will they bother us any
+more?"</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy consulted the sky thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I think there's some of them around now," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy nodded wisely.</p>
+
+<p>"Santa Claus ought to have shot them."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you cold-blooded savage!" scoffed Ned. "The idea!"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll see. I'd have done it, myself, if I'd had my gun,"
+declared Stacy bravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Good thing for you that your gun was in camp, instead of in
+your holster."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I'd have lost the gun when the pony went down. Poor
+pony! Say, Walt," he murmured, leaning over toward his
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, out with it!"</p>
+
+<p>"This pony of Santa Claus's can jump further than a
+kangaroo."</p>
+
+<p>"Ever see a kangaroo jump?" sneered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I've seen you try to. I'll show you, Walt, when we
+get a chance to go out and have a contest."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be good sport, wouldn't it, Ned?"</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"A jumping contest!"</p>
+
+<p>"If we didn't break our necks."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't break a Pony Rider Boy's neck. They're too tough,"
+laughed Walter, to which sentiment, Stacy Brown agreed with a
+series of emphatic nods.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, Tad," called Walter, "what do you say to our jumping our
+ponies some time to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad grinned appreciatively.</p>
+
+<p>"If the stock isn't too tired when we make camp, I think it
+would be great fun. We haven't had any real jumping contests in a
+long time."</p>
+
+<p>"Wish we had our stallions here, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"They're better off at home, Chunky. Altogether too valuable
+horses for this kind of work. I'll speak to the guide."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it, young man?" smiled Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"If you can find a level place for our camp we want to have a
+contest this afternoon. Professor, will you join us?"</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of a contest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Jumping."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"We will camp in the foothills of the Black range. You will
+find plenty of level ground there for your purpose," said the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>In order that they might have more time for their games, an
+early halt was called. The first work was to pitch the camp, the
+ponies being allowed to graze and rest in the meantime, after
+which the lads started out on a broad, open plain for their
+sport.</p>
+
+<p>Their shouts of merriment drifted back to the camp where Kris
+Kringle and Professor Zepplin were setting things to rights and
+preparing an early supper, the sun still being some hours
+high.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a great bunch of boys, Professor."</p>
+
+<p>"Great for getting into difficulties."</p>
+
+<p>"And for getting out of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll put them against any other four lads in the world for
+hunting out trouble," laughed the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>The result of the afternoon's sport was a total of several
+spills and numerous black and blue spots on the bodies of the
+Pony Rider Boys. Stacy Brown on Kris Kringle's pony, carried off
+the honors, having taken a higher jump than did any of his
+companions. Then Stacy did it again, after the others had
+tried&mdash;and failed to equal the record.</p>
+
+<p>The games being finished, Tad and Walter rode off to get a
+closer view of some peculiar rock formations that they had
+discovered in the high distance, while Ned and Chunky started
+slowly for the camp.</p>
+
+<p>The table had been set out in front of the tents when the fat
+boy and his companion came in sight of the camp.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew! but I'm hungry!" announced Stacy Brown.</p>
+
+<p>"But you didn't think of it until you saw the table set, did
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't the table, it was the shaking up I got back there
+that made me feel full of emptiness."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh!"</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea, Ned."</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness' sake, keep it to yourself, then. When you have
+an idea it spells trouble for everybody else around you."</p>
+
+<p>"Bet you I can."</p>
+
+<p>"Can what?" snorted Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Bet you I can jump the dinner table and you can't."</p>
+
+<p>"Bet you can't."</p>
+
+<p>"Bet I can, and without even knocking a fly off the milk
+pitcher."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, you! You try it first, and, if you don't make it, you
+lose. I don't have to try it if I don't want to," agreed Ned,
+with rare prudence.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky was fairly hugging himself with glee, but he took good
+care that Ned Rector did not observe his satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't you're a tenderfoot," taunted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll show you who's the tenderfoot. You go ahead and bolt the
+dinner, table and all, if you dare. Now, then!"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy gathered up his reins. There was mischief in his eyes,
+which were fixed on the table, neatly set for the evening
+meal.</p>
+
+<p>"You start right after me. They'll be surprised to see a
+procession of ponies going over the table, won't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody'll be surprised. May not be the Professor and Santa
+Claus, though," growled Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy had his own ideas on this question, but he did not
+confide them to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy clucked to his pony, and the little animal started
+off. As they moved along, Stacy used the persuasive spurs
+resulting in a sudden burst of speed.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on!" he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>He heard Ned's pony pursuing him.</p>
+
+<p>"Hi-yi-yi-y-e-o-w!" howled the shrill voice of the fat
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle were sitting at opposite
+ends of the table, with elbows leaning on it, engaged in earnest
+conversation. There had been so much yelling out on the plain
+ever since the boys left camp that the older men gave no heed to
+this new shout&mdash;did not even turn their eyes in the
+direction whence Stacy Brown and his pony were sweeping down on
+them at break-neck speed.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the two men started back with a sudden exclamation,
+as a shadow fell athwart the table and a dark form hurled itself
+through the air, while a shrill, "w-h-o-o-p-e-e!" sounded right
+over their heads.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy cleared the table without so much as disturbing
+the fly to which he had referred when making the arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle's face wore an expansive grin as he discovered
+the cause of the interruption. But, Professor Zepplin's face
+reflected no such emotion. He was angry. He started to rise, when
+a second shadow fell across the table.</p>
+
+<p>Ned Rector, not to be outdone by his fat little friend, pursed
+his lips tightly, driving his broncho at the dinner table and
+pressing in the spurs so hard, that the pony grunted with
+anger.</p>
+
+<p>Up went the broncho in a graceful curving leap.</p>
+
+<p>But the pony or its rider had not calculated the distance
+properly. Both rear hoofs went through the table, whisking it off
+the ground from before the astonished eyes of Professor Zepplin
+and Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>Both men drew back so violently that they toppled over
+backwards.</p>
+
+<p>'Mid the crashing of dishes and the sound of breaking wood,
+the dinner table shot up into the air, while the pony ploughed
+the ground with its nose.</p>
+
+<p>Ned Rector struck the ground some distance farther on; he slid
+on his face for several feet skinning his nose, and filling
+mouth, eyes and nose with dirt.</p>
+
+<p>Then dishes and pieces of table began to rain down on them in
+a perfect shower. A can of condensed milk emptied itself on the
+head of Professor Zepplin, while a hot biscuit lodged inside the
+collar of Santa Claus's shirt.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow! Oh, wow!" howled the fat boy, falling off his pony in
+the excess of his merriment and rolling on the ground.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII</h3>
+
+<h4>IN THE HOME OF THE CAVE DWELLERS</h4>
+
+<p>Ned Rector sat up just in time to meet the wreck of the
+descending table. Down he went again with Stacy's howls ringing
+in his ears.</p>
+
+<p>A firm hand jerked Rector free of the debris as Kris Kringle
+laughing heartily hauled Ned to his feet. At the same moment
+Professor Zepplin had laid more violent hands on the fat boy,
+whom he shook until Stacy's howls lost much of their mirth. About
+this time Tad and Walter rode in, having hurried along upon
+hearing the disturbance in camp.</p>
+
+<p>"Stacy Brown, are you responsible for this?" demanded the
+Professor sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm more to blame than he is," interposed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I&mdash;I had an idea," chuckled Stacy, threatening to
+break out into another howl of mirth.</p>
+
+<p>"Next time you have one, then, you will be good enough to let
+me know. We will tie you up until the impulse to make trouble has
+passed."</p>
+
+<p>Tad and Walter could not resist a shout of laughter. Kris
+Kringle was not slow to follow the example set by them, and all
+at once Professor Zepplin forgot his dignity, sitting right down
+amid the wreck and laughing immoderately.</p>
+
+<p>Ned washed his face, and when, upon facing them, he exhibited
+a peeled nose and a black eye, the merriment was renewed
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Supper was a success, in spite of the fact that many of their
+dishes were utterly ruined, as well as some of the provisions.
+But the lads gathered up the pieces and made the best of a bad
+job. Fortunately they carried another folding table that they had
+had made for their trip, and this was soon spread and a fresh
+meal prepared.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, have you two been getting into difficulties also?"
+questioned the Professor, after they sat down to supper.</p>
+
+<p>"No; we've been exploring, Walter and I," answered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Exploring?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. We discovered something that I should like to know more
+about."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" asked Kris Kringle, looking up
+interestedly.</p>
+
+<p>"We were over yonder, close to the mountains, which are
+straight up and down, and half way to the top, we saw three or
+four queerly-shaped rocks that looked like houses or huts. Did
+you ever see them, Mr. Kringle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I think I know what you mean. They must be some of
+the cave dwellings of the ancient Pueblos, or perhaps as far back
+as the Toltecs. They built their homes in caves on the steep
+rocks for better protection against their enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"And nobody ever discovered these before?" questioned. Walter.
+"How queer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps these dwellings, if such they are, have been seen by
+many a traveler, none of whom had interest enough in the matter
+to investigate. Then again, they may have been fully explored.
+There's not much in this part of the country that prospectors
+have not looked over."</p>
+
+<p>"May we explore these caves, Professor?" asked Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Please let us?" urged Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I see no objection if Mr. Kringle will be responsible for
+you. I rather think I'll look into them myself. I'll confess the
+idea interests me. Are they easy to get at?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not," answered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Santa Claus will show us the way," interrupted Stacy
+enthusiastically.</p>
+
+<p>He was frowned down by the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not start now?" urged Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The guide consulted the sun.</p>
+
+<p>"We might. It lacks all of three hours to dark."</p>
+
+<p>There was much enthusiasm in camp. The idea that they were to
+visit some unexplored caves, dwellings of an ancient people,
+filled the lads with pleasant expectancy.</p>
+
+<p>Before starting, Mr. Kringle sorted out some strong manila
+rope and several tent stakes all of which he did up into two
+bundles. Then he filled the magazine of his rifle, throwing this
+over his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that for?" questioned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"The gun?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't tell what we may run into in a cave, you know."</p>
+
+<p>After a final look at the camp all hands set out for the place
+indicated by Tad. It was only a short distance, so they decided
+to walk.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the base of the mountain they gazed up.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, those are cave dwellings," declared Kris Kringle. "And
+they are still closed. Probably they haven't been opened in two
+hundred years."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd hate to live there and have to go home in a dark night,"
+mused Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, how did they get to their houses?" wondered the other
+boys.</p>
+
+<p>"The question is, how are we going to get near enough to
+explore them? How shall we get up there, Mr. Guide?" asked the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll find a way. We shall have to climb the mountain,
+first."</p>
+
+<p>All hands began clambering up the rocks. To do so they were
+obliged to follow along the base of the mountain for some
+distance before they found a place that they could climb.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the top, the guide examined their surroundings
+carefully.</p>
+
+<p>"See those little projections of rock slanting down toward the
+shelf?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in the old days they probably felled a tree so it would
+fall on them. The occupants of the cave probably cut steps in the
+tree trunk over which to travel up and down. The tree has rotted
+away many years since."</p>
+
+<p>"And we can't get down, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll find a way, Master Walter. I thought I should be able
+to make a rope ladder that would work, but I see it is not
+practicable."</p>
+
+<p>"How shall we do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Try the old way, I guess, Master Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"The tree."</p>
+
+<p>"But there are no trees near here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there are, a few rods back. We are all strong and I
+guess we shall be able to make a pretty fair pair of steps."</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle had brought an axe with him. With this he cut
+some long, straight poles which, he explained, were intended for
+pike poles such as woodsmen use to roll logs. This done, he began
+industriously chopping at the tree after deciding upon the exact
+position in which he desired it to fall.</p>
+
+<p>"It won't reach," declared Chunky, who, with hands in pockets,
+legs spread wide apart, stood looking up at the flaring top of
+the great tree.</p>
+
+<p>The guide stopped chopping long enough to squint at the fat
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>"It'll reach you all right, if you stay where you are," he
+said, then resumed his vigorous blows.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy promptly took the hint and moved a safe distance
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"Get from under!" shouted the guide finally. One more blow
+would send the tree crashing downward.</p>
+
+<p>All hands scrambled for safety. One powerful blow from the
+axe, and with a crashing and rending, the great tree began its
+descent. When it struck the onlookers fully expected to see it
+broken into many pieces, but the bushy top, hitting the rocks
+first, broke the blow, and the body of the tree settled down
+gently without even breaking its bark.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine! Hurrah!" shouted the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"It won't reach to the edge. Going to pull it over?"
+questioned Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly, but we're going to get it there. Perhaps we
+shall not have it in place in time to explore the caves to-night,
+but we shall be ready to do so early in the morning. It took our
+friends longer to do this job, two hundred years or more ago,
+than it will take us. We have better tools to work with."</p>
+
+<p>"And better bosses," suggested Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>Some little time was consumed in chopping the tree loose from
+its stump, after which the guide worked the pike poles under the
+trunk at intervals near the base. The others watched these
+operations with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Now here is where you young gentlemen will have a chance to
+show how strong you are. Each one grab a pike pole," Kringle
+directed.</p>
+
+<p>"Shan't I go hold the top down?" asked Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You just grab a pike pole and get busy!" laughed Mr.
+Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't get out of work quite so easy as you thought," scoffed
+Ned. "This is where we make you earn your supper."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't have to earn it. Had it already."</p>
+
+<p>"There are other meals coming," smiled the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, heo&mdash;he!"</p>
+
+<p>All raised on the pike poles at the same time with the result
+that the tree was forced down the gentle incline several feet.
+This was repeated again and again, the boys pausing to cheer
+after every lift.</p>
+
+<p>The tree being now perilously near the edge of the cliff Kris
+Kringle called a halt. Next he fastened a rope around the top and
+another around the base, taking a turn around a rock with each.
+One boy was placed on each rope, the others at the pike poles,
+while the guide stood at the edge giving directions.</p>
+
+<p>The tree trunk gently slipped over under his guidance and a
+few minutes later rested on the projecting rocks, that were just
+high enough to hold it in place.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't take much to send it over, but I guess it will be
+perfectly safe," he mused.</p>
+
+<p>"May we go down now?" cried the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I'll make some steps first."</p>
+
+<p>He did so with the axe, chopping out scoop-shaped places for
+steps, until finally he had reached the rock in front of the cave
+dwellings.</p>
+
+<p>The tree lay at an easy slope, its bushy top partly resting on
+the ledge, the latter being some eight feet deep by ten feet
+wide.</p>
+
+<p>Running up the log Mr. Kringle made another rope fast at the
+top, throwing the free end over.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on to the rope while you are going down and you'll be in
+no danger of falling," he warned.</p>
+
+<p>The boys scrambled down the tree like so many squirrels, the
+Professor following somewhat more cautiously.</p>
+
+<p>The explorers found themselves not more than twenty feet from
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Not much of a door yard. Where's the garden?" wondered Stacy,
+looking about him curiously.</p>
+
+<p>The entrance to the cave dwelling was blocked by a huge
+boulder, that completely filled the opening. How it had been
+gotten there none could say. The only possible explanation was
+that the boulder had been found on the shelf and applied to the
+purpose of protecting the cave dwellers' home.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we're here, we can't get in," grumbled Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing is impossible," answered Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Except one thing."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that, Master Ned?"</p>
+
+<p>"To hammer the least little bit of sense into the head of my
+friend, Chunky Brown."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't have to, that's why," retorted Stacy quickly. "It
+has all the sense it'll hold, now."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess that will be about all for you, Ned," laughed Walter.
+"At least, Chunky didn't foul the dinner table when he jumped
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The guide, in the meantime, was experimenting with the
+boulder, inserting a pike pole here and there in an effort to
+move the big stone. It remained in place as solidly as if it had
+grown there.</p>
+
+<p>"There's some trick about the thing, I know, but what it is
+gets me. Better stand back, all of you, in case it comes out all
+of a sudden," Mr. Kringle warned them.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the boulder did come out, and it kept on
+coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out!" bellowed the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Low bridge!" howled Stacy, hopping to one side and crouching
+against the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>The guide had sprung nimbly to one side as well. The big rock
+had popped out like a pea from a pod. Instead of stopping,
+however, it continued to roll on toward the edge.</p>
+
+<p>"Hug the rocks! She's going down!" shouted the guide.</p>
+
+<p>Go down it did, with a crash that seemed to shake the
+mountain. Rolling to the edge of the shelf, it had toppled over,
+taking a large strip of shelving rock with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" howled Chunky;</p>
+
+<p>The other boys uttered no sound, though their faces were a
+little more pale than usual.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle stepped to the edge, peering over.</p>
+
+<p>"No one will get that up here again, right away," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"The cave, the cave!" shouted Walter.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone turned, gazing half in awe at the dark opening that
+the removal of the stone had revealed&mdash;an opening that had
+been closed for probably more than two centuries.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII</h3>
+
+<h4>FACING THE ENEMY'S GUNS</h4>
+
+<p>"Do we go in?" asked the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, I'll get some light inside first," answered the prudent
+guide. "Can't tell whether we shall want to go in or not."</p>
+
+<p>He built up a small fire within, then called to the others
+that they might enter. They crowded in hastily, finding
+themselves in a fairly large chamber, at the far end of which was
+a sort of natural alcove in the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>The remnants of a fire still lay at one side, where the last
+meal of the ancient dweller had probably been cooked. Several
+crude looking utensils lay about, together with a number of
+pieces of ancient pottery.</p>
+
+<p>"This is, indeed, a rare find!" exclaimed the Professor,
+carrying the precious jars out into the light for closer
+examination.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky, about that time, pounced upon an object which proved
+to be a copper hatchet.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurray for George Washington!" he shouted, brandishing the
+crude tool. "The man who never told&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We've heard that before," objected Ned. "Give us something
+new, Chunky, if you've <i>got</i> to talk."</p>
+
+<p>The Professor came in, searching for other curios just as
+Stacy went out to examine his "little axe," as he was pleased to
+call it. He tried the edge of it on the ledge to find out if the
+stone would dull it, but it did not.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll use that to cut nails and wire with when I get back
+home," decided the boy. "Guess I'll chop my name in the side of
+the mountain here." Stacy proceeded to do so, the others being
+too much engrossed in their explorations to know or care what he
+was about. He succeeded very well, both in making letters on the
+wall and in putting several nicks in the edge of his new-found
+hatchet.</p>
+
+<p>He was thus engaged when all at once something struck the axe
+hurling it from his hand. At the same instant a rifle crashed off
+somewhere below and to the southeast of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch!" exclaimed the fat boy holding his hand. "Wonder who
+did that?" His mind had not coupled the shot with the blow on the
+hatchet.</p>
+
+<p>Bang!</p>
+
+<p>A bullet flattened itself close to his head, against the
+rock.</p>
+
+<p>With a howl, the lad threw himself down on the ledge.</p>
+
+<p>At that instant Kris Kringle sprang to the opening of the
+cave.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" he snapped.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Somebody knocked the axe out of my hand then
+shot at me."</p>
+
+<p>The guide discovered the trouble right there. A bullet snipped
+his hat from his head; and, striking the ceiling of the
+cave-home, dropped to the floor with a dull clatter.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle ducked with amazing quickness. Crawling back into
+the cave, he reached for his own rifle and then sought the
+opening, taking good care not to expose himself to the fire of
+the unseen enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy, on his part, had lost no time in getting to a place of
+safety inside, though he was prudent enough to crawl instead of
+getting up and walking in.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean? It can't be possible that anyone is
+deliberately shooting at us?" questioned Professor Zepplin in
+undisguised amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"If you doubt it step outside," suggested Kris Kringle.
+"Master Stacy and myself know what they tried to do, don't we,
+lad?"</p>
+
+<p>"We do."</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy again swelled with importance.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out you don't swell up so big you'll break your
+harness," warned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Better break it than have it shot off," mumbled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Who can it be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say, Professor."</p>
+
+<p>"It's our friends from the fire dance," was Tad's expressed
+conviction.</p>
+
+<p>"Told you they'd be here," nodded Chunky. "Why don't you shoot
+at them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Going to, in a minute. Got to find out where they are
+first."</p>
+
+<p>Now the lads were excited in earnest. Some one was shooting at
+them, and the guide was going to fire back. This was more than
+they had expected when they visited the home of the
+cave-dweller.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me take a crack at 'em," begged Chunky. "I owe 'em
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Stacy, you will do nothing of the sort," reproved the
+Professor sternly. "The idea!"</p>
+
+<p>"No; if there's any shooting to be done I'll do it," announced
+Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"And Santa Claus isn't shooting with any toy gun, this time,"
+chuckled Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you see the camp, to know if anyone is there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but only part of it, Professor. I wish you would all get
+over into the right hand corner there and lie flat on the floor.
+I'm going to try to draw their fire so that I can locate them.
+Can't afford to waste ammunition until we are reasonably sure
+where our mark is."</p>
+
+<p>The others quickly got into the position indicated.</p>
+
+<p>Placing his hat on one of the pike poles, Kringle slowly
+pushed it outside.</p>
+
+<p>There was no result, The ruse failed to draw the enemy's
+fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they've gone. We're a lot of babies," jeered Ned, jumping
+up and starting for the opening.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle gave him a push with the butt of the rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"Want, to get shot full of holes? Wait! I'll show you."</p>
+
+<p>The guide sprang up, showing himself out on the ledge for one
+brief instant then throwing himself flat.</p>
+
+<p>A sharp "ping" against the rocks, followed by a heavy report,
+told the story. The guide had been not a second too soon in
+getting out of harm's way, for the bullet would have gone right
+through him had he remained standing.</p>
+
+<p>Quick as a flash Kringle's rifle leaped to his shoulder, and
+he fired. He had taken quick aim at a puff of smoke off toward
+the camp.</p>
+
+<p>Not content with one shot he raked the bushes all about where
+the puff of smoke had been seen, emptying the magazine of the
+rifle in a few seconds.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy Brown was fairly dancing with glee.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hit anything?" asked the boys breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I hit something; but whether I winged an Indian or
+not, I don't know. If I did, he probably is not seriously
+wounded. You'll hear a redskin yell when he's hit bad."</p>
+
+<p>"That one I punched didn't. He was hit hard," volunteered
+Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't have time," grinned Tad. "You were too quick for
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Look out! There comes a volley!" warned Mr. Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>The boys, led by the Professor tumbled into the corner in a
+heap, while the lead pattered in through the opening, rattling
+with great force like a handful of pebbles.</p>
+
+<p>"They're getting in a hurry," averred the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"It's growing dark. They want to finish us before then, so we
+can't play any tricks on them after that. But, if they only knew
+it, and they probably do, they've got us beautifully trapped. One
+man below and another at the other end of our tree would be able
+to keep us here till the springs run dry. If there's only two of
+them there, as I suspect is the case, they may not want to
+separate. We'll see, the minute it gets dark enough so that we
+can move about without being observed."</p>
+
+<p>Some of the sage brush that Kris Kringle had brought down to
+light up the cave lay outside on the ledge. Using one of the
+poles, he cautiously raked the stuff inside, heaping it up not
+far from the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"What you doing that for?" questioned Stacy, unable to conceal
+his curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll see, by-and-by, when we get ready to do something
+else. You don't think I'm going to stay here all night, do
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>There was no further firing on either side, though Mr. Kringle
+showed himself boldly several times.</p>
+
+<p>Finally Tad tried it, and was greeted with a shot the instant
+he appeared in the opening.</p>
+
+<p>"Must be me they're after," he suggested, with a forced grin,
+falling flat on the ledge, and wriggling back into the cave.</p>
+
+<p>The twilight was upon them now. The guide had been able to see
+the flash of the rifle below him, and had taken a quick shot at
+it when the enemy attempted to wing Tad Butler. Kringle had no
+means of knowing whether his shot had been effective or not.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to try something else in a few minutes, now," the
+guide told the Professor and the boys, "and I hope you all will
+do just as I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"You may depend upon our doing exactly that," answered the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to crawl out of here. The rest of you remain here
+until I call to you to come out, no matter if it is until
+morning. After I have been gone about ten minutes, light a match
+and toss it into the heap of sage there, but watch out that you
+don't get into the light. Throw the match. You're liable to be
+shot if you show yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should we make a fire and thus make targets of
+ourselves?" protested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"That is to cover Mr. Kringle's retreat," Tad informed
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. Master Tad, you may come along with me if you
+wish."</p>
+
+<p>Tad jumped at the offer.</p>
+
+<p>"But not a sound. Ask me no questions. Follow a rod or so
+behind me, and walk low down all the time. If you make a mistake
+it may result seriously for you and your friends. And, another
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Should there be any shooting, throw yourself on the ground.
+You will not be as likely to be hit there."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll obey orders, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it."</p>
+
+<p>"When do we start?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we can do so now, as safely as at any time. The
+rascals will not be likely to be on the mountain just yet,
+because it is not dark enough. Yes; we'll go now."</p>
+
+<p>Tad waited until Kris Kringle had crawled from the cave, then
+lay down on his stomach and wriggled out on the ledge.</p>
+
+<p>There were no signs of the enemy and the camp-fire of the Pony
+Rider Boys glowed dimly down below. Tad, peering off into the
+gloom, for the moon had not yet risen, thought he saw a figure
+flit by the fire. He could not be sure, however. He wished he
+might tell the guide of his fancied discovery; but, remembering
+the injunction for absolute silence, he said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, Tad's arms were about the log. From the slight
+vibration he knew that Kris Kringle was somewhere between himself
+and the top, yet not a sound did the guide make. Tad made no
+more, and they would have been keen ears, indeed, that could have
+detected our friends' presence by sound alone.</p>
+
+<p>When the lad finally reached the top a hand was laid on his
+shoulder. The touch gave him a violent start in spite of his
+steady nerves.</p>
+
+<p>"You're all right," whispered the voice of Kris Kringle.
+"You'd make a good Indian. I want to explain something that I
+didn't wish the others to hear."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I have only one shell left in my rifle. That's why I wanted
+you to go along. If, by any chance, the rascals should get me,
+you lie low. They'll make for the cave, as they know, by this
+time, that there is only one rifle in the party. The minute they
+do, should such an emergency arise, slide for the camp and get
+your gun. You'll know what to do with it. It'll be a case of
+saving the lives of your companions if it comes to that."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," answered Tad bravely; and without a quaver in
+his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Mind you, I don't think for a minute that it will happen. I
+can handle these fellows if I get the lay of the land. Keep close
+enough to hear me."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not so easy."</p>
+
+<p>"No; but you'll know. When I stop you do the same."</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX</h3>
+
+<h4>OUTWITTING THE REDSKINS</h4>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle moved away without another word. His abrupt
+departure was the signal for the Pony Rider boy to start, which
+he did instantly.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes Tad was skulking along the top of the
+mountain, when he ran into the guide again.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the report of a rifle sounded down below them.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they shooting at us?" whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"No; the boys have lighted the fire in the cave. Our friends
+down below took a pot shot at the blaze. Hope they didn't hit
+anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky would be the only one to get in the way, and I imagine
+the others would hold him back."</p>
+
+<p>"Come this way; we'll go down by a different trail. The
+redskins are watching the fire in the cave, but they may be
+keeping an eye on the trail at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>Silently the man and the boy took their way along the rough,
+uneven path, slowly working down into the valley. They soon
+reached this, for the range was low there.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the foothills, the two scouts once more fell into
+single file, Tad Butler to the rear. He knew that the guide's
+rifle ahead of him was ready for instant use, and at any second
+now Tad expected to see the flash of a gun.</p>
+
+<p>The lad was not afraid, but he was all a-quiver with
+excitement. This stalking an enemy in the dark, not knowing at
+what minute that enemy might make the attack, was not the same as
+a stand-up fight in broad daylight. Tad wondered why the guide
+had not permitted the rest of the party to escape while they had
+the opportunity. He did not know that Kris Kringle fully expected
+an ambush, nor that two would stand a better chance to get
+through and out-wit the savages than would half a dozen of them.
+The pair had approached nearly to the camp, for which the guide
+was heading, when suddenly a hand was laid on the boy's arm in a
+firm grip. Tad knew the guide had seen or heard something.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"There!"</p>
+
+<p>In the faint light of the camp-fire the lad, gazing where Kris
+Kringle had pointed, was astonished to see a figure seated at
+their table. From his motions it was evident that the intruder
+was stowing away the stolen fool at a great rate.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that one of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"He'll have indigestion, the way he's eating. Hope he doesn't
+swallow the dishes, too."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to find the other one. You crawl as close to the
+camp as you can with safety. If you hear a disturbance, dive for
+the tents the instant that fellow starts. He'll move if he hears
+any noise. Get a gun and hurry to me, but be quiet about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Remember your instructions. I may be able to handle both of
+them, but if I don't get the missing one at the first crack I
+shan't be able to take care of them both. You'll have to help me.
+Got the nerve?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not afraid," whispered the boy steadily. "And I've got
+some muscle as well."</p>
+
+<p>"That's evident. I'm off now."</p>
+
+<p>Tad was left alone. This time he could feel the guide's
+movements, as the latter slipped away on the soft earth. But in a
+moment all sound was lost.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll crawl up nearer, so as to be handy if anything
+occurs," decided the lad, creeping along on all fours. He could
+not see the light in the camp now, but he reasoned that the man
+at the table was sitting with his back to it, as near as Tad
+could judge of direction in the dark. The Indian seemed not to
+fear a surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what comes from overconfidence," grinned the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had something to defend myself with," he added after
+a pause.</p>
+
+<p>Tad had no sooner expressed his wish, than his fingers closed
+over some object on the ground. He grasped it with about the same
+hopefulness that a dying man will grasp at a straw.</p>
+
+<p>What he had found was a heavy tent stake, one that Kris
+Kringle had dropped from his bundle on the way to the cliff
+dweller's home.</p>
+
+<p>The lad breathed a prayer of thankfulness and crept on with
+renewed courage.</p>
+
+<p>He proceeded as far as he dared; then, lay still, listening
+for the noise of the expected conflict between the guide and the
+other red man.</p>
+
+<p>It came. The sound was like that of a body falling
+heavily.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the Indian at the table turned his head, listening
+inquiringly. He made a half motion to rise, glanced at the table,
+then sat down again and began to eat.</p>
+
+<p>"His appetite has overcome his judgment," grinned Tad. The lad
+could hear the faint sound of conflict somewhere to the rear of
+him. He was getting uneasy and began to fidget.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the red man sprang up, starting on a run, trailing
+Stacy's rifle behind him. He was headed directly for the place
+where Tad lay flattened on the ground, though the lad felt sure
+his enemy did not see him.</p>
+
+<p>But when the Indian suddenly sprang up into the air to avoid
+stepping on the object that lay there, Tad knew that further
+secrecy was useless. The redskin had jumped right over him,
+dropping Chunky's rifle as he leaped. The gun fell on the Pony
+Rider boy and for a second hindered his movements.</p>
+
+<p>But Tad was up like a flash, while the Indian whirled no less
+quickly, knife unsheathed, ready for battle.</p>
+
+<p>This was where Tad's tent stake came in handy. Without it he
+would have been in a much more serious fix. It was bad enough as
+it was.</p>
+
+<p>Without an instant's hesitation the lad brought the stake down
+on the wrist of the hand that held the knife. The knife fell to
+the ground, while the Indian, with a half-suppressed howl, sprang
+at the slender lad. Though the fellow's wrist was well-nigh
+useless at that moment, he was as full of fight as ever.</p>
+
+<p>Tad stepped nimbly aside and tried to trip his adversary, but
+the Indian was too sharp to be caught that way.</p>
+
+<p>"If he ever gets those arms around me I'm a goner," thought
+Tad, taking mental measure of his antagonist.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the Indian swooped down, making a grab for the rifle
+that he had dropped.</p>
+
+<p>As the redskin stooped, Tad hit him a wallop on the head with
+the tent stake. It must have made the savage see a shower of
+stars.</p>
+
+<p>At least, it staggered him so he was glad to let the weapon
+remain where it was. For a few seconds the air was full of flying
+legs and arms, during which the boy landed three times on the red
+man, being himself unhurt.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Indian succeeded in rushing into a clinch, and Tad
+found himself gripped in those arms of steel. Wriggle and twist
+as he would he could not free himself from their embrace. His
+adversary, on the other hand, found himself fully occupied in
+holding on to his slippery young antagonist, giving him neither
+time nor opportunity effectually to dispose of the slender
+lad.</p>
+
+<p>Tad was unusually muscular for his years, to which was added
+no little skill as wrestler. The Indian soon discovered both
+these qualities. And, at about that time, the lad was resorting
+to every trick he knew to place the Indian in a position where he
+could be thrown.</p>
+
+<p>The moment came with disconcerting suddenness, and Mr. Redman
+uttered a loud grunt as he landed on the ground, flat on his
+back. With a spring he lifted himself up, and the next instant he
+had thrown the slight figure of the Pony Rider Boy so heavily
+that everything about Tad grew black. He felt himself going. Then
+all at once he lost consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>When finally he awakened, Tad found a figure still bending
+over him.</p>
+
+<p>Quick as a flash the boy's arms went up, encircling the neck
+of the man kneeling by him. The next instant the fellow was on
+his back, with Tad sitting on his chest.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here! What's the matter with you?" gasped a muffled
+voice, which Tad instantly recognized.</p>
+
+<p>"Kris Kringle!" he gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and you nearly knocked the breath out of me," grinned
+the guide, struggling to his feet. "Well, you certainly are a
+whirlwind."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I thought you were the Indian," mattered Tad in a
+sheepish tone.</p>
+
+<p>"If it had been, there would have been no need for my
+interference."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Over there, tied up. Both of them are. We'll decide what to
+do with them when we get the party together."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me what happened," begged Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The other fellow was so busy watching the cave that he forgot
+to keep his ears open. I was able to approach him without being
+detected. When I got near enough I laid the butt of my rifle over
+his head. No, I didn't hurt him much. Just made him curl up on
+the ground long enough to enable me to tie his hands and
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>"About that time I caught the sound of something going on over
+here. I made a run, suspecting that you were mixing it up with
+the other redskin. Guess I was just in time, too, for he had you
+down and was reaching for something&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"His knife," nodded Tad. "It's somewhere around here now."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I gave him the same medicine that I had given the
+other. Now we'd better go and call the others."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. I'd have been in a bad fix, if you hadn't come as
+you did."</p>
+
+<p>"So might I, had you not stopped the second one. We're quits
+then," said the guide, extending his hand, which Tad grasped
+warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll call the others, if you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>Tad ran over to the base of the cliff, and shouted loudly for
+his companions. In half an hour the party had gathered about the
+camp fire, engaged in an animated discussion over the stirring
+experiences of the evening.</p>
+
+<p>It was decided that the Indians should be placed on their
+ponies, to which they were to be tied, with hands free and
+provisions enough to last them until they reached their
+reservation in the northern part of the state.</p>
+
+<p>The guide restored their rifles to them after first taking
+their ammunition and transferring it to his own kit.</p>
+
+<p>"I've wasted nearly that much on you," he said. "And, if ever
+you ride across my trail again, I'll use your own lead on you in
+a way that will stop you. You won't need bullets like these in
+the Happy Hunting Grounds, where you'll be going. Now, git!"</p>
+
+<p>And they did. The redskins rode as if a ghost were pursuing
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the last, we shall see of those gentlemen," laughed
+Kris Kringle. "To-morrow morning we shall be on our way in
+peace."</p>
+
+<p>But the trail of the Pony Rider Boys was not to be all peace.
+Before them&mdash;ere they reached the end of the Silver
+Trail&mdash;they were to find other thrilling experiences
+awaiting them.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XX</h3>
+
+<h4>TILTING FOR THE SILVER SPURS</h4>
+
+<p>Their journey led the young horsemen across the plains, over
+low-lying ranges, across broad, barren table-lands and down
+through the bottom lands until the wide sweep of the Rio Grande
+River at last lay before them.</p>
+
+<p>After the weeks of arid landscape the sight of water, and so
+much of it, brought a loud cheer from the Pony Rider Boys. The
+next thing was to find a fording place. This they did late in the
+afternoon of the same day, and their further journey took them to
+the little desert town of Puraje.</p>
+
+<p>They camped on the outskirts of the village.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's where we get a real bath. Who's going in swimming with
+me?" asked Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I am," shouted all the boys at once.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor and Kris Kringle concluded that they, too, would
+take a dip, and a merry hour was spent in a protected cove of the
+big river, where the boys proved themselves as much at home as
+they were in the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, they purchased such supplies as the town
+afforded. The night passed with-out disturbance, the boys taking
+up their journey next morning before the sleepy town had
+awakened.</p>
+
+<p>It was a week later, when, tired and dusty, the outfit pulled
+up at La Luz, a quaint hamlet nestling in the foothills of the
+Sacramento Mountains. The place they found to be largely Mexican,
+and it was almost as if the visitors had slipped over the border
+to find themselves in Mexico itself.</p>
+
+<p>Decorations were in evidence on all sides; bright-colored
+mantillas, Indian blankets and flags were everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, I guess something is going on here," laughed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"We are in time, whatever it is," nodded the guide. "Probably
+it's a feast of some kind. You will be interested in it, if that
+is what it is."</p>
+
+<p>The feast, they learned, was to be celebrated on the morrow
+with games, feats of strength and horsemanship.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think they will let us take part?" asked Tad, as the
+party made camp in the yard of a little adobe church, where they
+had obtained permission to camp.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see about it," answered the guide. "There may be reasons
+why it would not be best to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe I can win another rifle," suggested Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"These people don't give away rifles. They're too&mdash;
+too&mdash;what do you call it?&mdash;too artistic. That's
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The camp being on the main street of the village, attracted no
+little attention. After sundown, crowds of gayly bedecked young
+people strolled up and stood about the church yard, watching the
+American boys pitching their tents and preparing for their stay
+over night.</p>
+
+<p>The villagers were especially interested in watching the boys
+get their supper, which was served up steaming hot within fifteen
+minutes after preparations had begun. Chunky had bought several
+pies at the store, which, with a pound of cheese brought in by
+Ned, made a pleasant change in the daily routine.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky started in on the pie.</p>
+
+<p>Ned calmly reached over and took it away from him; then the
+supper went along until it came time for the dessert, when Chunky
+fixed his eyes on the cheese suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"See anything wrong with that cheese?" demanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I've got an idea."</p>
+
+<p>"Out with it! You won't rest easy until you do. What's your
+idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking, if I had a camera, I could make a motion
+picture of that cheese. I heard of a fellow once&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That will do, Master Stacy," warned Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't I talk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Along proper lines&mdash;yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Cheese is proper, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Depends upon how old it is," chuckled Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't make fun of my cheese. Here give it to me; I'll
+eat it."</p>
+
+<p>"You're welcome to it, Ned," laughed the boys.</p>
+
+<p>The fun went on, much to the amusement of the villagers, who
+remained near by until the evening was well along and the lads
+began preparing for bed. Next morning the visitors began coming
+in to town early. There were men from the ranches, Mexican
+ranch-hands arrayed in bright colors and displaying expensive
+saddle trimmings. There were others from the wild places on the
+desert, far beyond the water limits, whose means of livelihood
+were known only to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>It was a strange company, and one that appealed considerably
+to the curiosity of the Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>The early part of the day was given over to racing, roping,
+gambling and other sports in which the lads were content to take
+no part. But there was an event scheduled for the afternoon that
+interested Tad more than all the rest. That was a tilting bout,
+open to all comers. A tilting arch had been erected in the middle
+of the main street, and had been decorated with flags and
+greens.</p>
+
+<p>The tilting ring, suspended from the top of the arch, was not
+more than an inch in diameter. The horseman who could impale it
+on his tilting peg and carry the ring away with him the greatest,
+number of times, would be declared the winner. Each one was to be
+given five chances.</p>
+
+<p>The prize, a pair of silver spurs, was to be presented by the
+belle of the town, a dark-eyed se&ntilde;orita.</p>
+
+<p>The guide had entered Tad in this contest; but, as the lad
+glanced up at the ring only an inch in diameter, he grew rather
+dubious. He never had seen any tilting, and did not even know how
+the sport was conducted.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle gave the lad some instructions about the method
+employed by the tilters, and Tad decided to enter the
+contest.</p>
+
+<p>Only ten horsemen entered, most of these being either Mexicans
+or halfbreeds.</p>
+
+<p>The first trial over, five of the contestants had succeeded in
+carrying away the ring.</p>
+
+<p>Tad had waited until nearly the last in order to get all the
+information possible as to the way the rest of the contestants
+played the game. A pole had been loaned to him, or rather a
+"peg," they called it, eight feet long, tapered so as to allow it
+to go through the brass ring for fully two feet of its
+length.</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider boy took his place in the middle of the street,
+and without the least hesitancy, galloped down toward the ring,
+which, indeed, he could not even see. When within a few feet of
+the arch he caught the sparkle of the ring.</p>
+
+<p>His lance came up, and putting spurs to his broncho, he shot
+under the arch, driving the point of the peg full at the slender
+circle. The point struck the edge sending the ring swaying like
+the pendulum of a clock.</p>
+
+<p>A howl greeted his achievement. Tad said nothing, but riding
+slowly back, awaited his next trial.</p>
+
+<p>The rule was that when one of the contestants made a strike,
+he was to continue until he failed. He would be allowed to run
+out five points in succession if he could.</p>
+
+<p>"Rest the peg against your side, and lightly," advised a man,
+as Tad turned into the street for another try. The man was past
+middle age, and, though dressed in the garb of a man of the
+plains, Tad decided at once that he was not of the same type as
+most of the motley mob by which he was surrounded.</p>
+
+<p>The lad nodded his understanding.</p>
+
+<p>With a sharp little cry of warning, the boy put spurs to his
+pony. He fairly flew down the course. No such speed had been seen
+there that day. The northern bronchos that the boys were riding
+were built for faster work and possessed more spirit than their
+brothers of the desert.</p>
+
+<p>As he neared the arch, this time, the lad half rose in his
+stirrups. He knew where to look for the ring now. Leaning
+slightly forward he let the point of the peg tilt ever so little.
+It went through the ring, tearing it from its slender fastening
+and carrying it away.</p>
+
+<p>Loud shouts of approval greeted his achievement.</p>
+
+<p>Once more he raced down the lane, this time at so fast a clip
+that the faces of the spectators who lined the course were a mere
+blur in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He felt the slight jar and heard the click as the ring slipped
+over the tilting peg.</p>
+
+<p>"Two," announced the scorer.</p>
+
+<p>He missed the next one. Then the others took their turn. Only
+one of these succeeded in scoring. He was one of the Mexicans who
+made such a brave show of color in raiment and saddle cloth.</p>
+
+<p>"That gives the se&ntilde;or and the boy three apiece. Each
+has one turn left. The others will fall out. If neither scores in
+his turn, both will be ruled out and the others will compete for
+the prize," announced the scorer.</p>
+
+<p>The Mexican smiled a supercilious smile, as much as to say,
+"The idea of a long-legged, freckle-faced boy defeating me!" The
+Mexican was an expert at the game of tilting as it was practised
+on the desert.</p>
+
+<p>The man took the first turn. He sat quietly on his pony a
+moment before starting, placing the lance at just the proper
+angle&mdash;then galloped at the mark. He, too, rose in his
+stirrups. The spectators were silent.</p>
+
+<p>The ring just missed being impaled on the tilting peg,
+slipping along the pole half way then bounding up into the
+air.</p>
+
+<p>The spectators groaned. The Mexican had lost.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was Tad's turn.</p>
+
+<p>He rode as if it were an everyday occurrence with him to tilt,
+only he went at it with a rash that fairly took their breath
+away.</p>
+
+<p>Just as he was about to drive at the ring, some one uttered a
+wild yell and a sombrero hurled from the crowd, struck Tad fairly
+across the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Of course he lost, and, for a moment, he could not see a
+thing. He pulled his pony to a quick stop and sat rubbing and
+blinking his smarting eyes.</p>
+
+<p>A howl of disapproval went up from the spectators. None seemed
+to know whether the act had been inspired by enthusiasm or
+malice. Tad was convinced that it was the latter. His face was
+flushed, but the lad made no comment.</p>
+
+<p>"You are entitled to another tilt," called the scorer.</p>
+
+<p>To this the Mexican objected loudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Under the circumstances, as my opponent objects, and as we
+all wish to prevent hard feelings, why not give him a chance as
+well? If he wins I shall be satisfied."</p>
+
+<p>A shout of approval greeted Tad's suggestion. This was the
+real sportsman-like spirit, and it appealed to them.</p>
+
+<p>The proposition was agreed to. But again the Mexican lost.</p>
+
+<p>"If the young man is interfered with this time, I shall award
+the prize to him and end the tournament," warned the scorer.</p>
+
+<p>Though Tad's eyes were smarting from the blow of the sombrero,
+he allowed the eyelids to droop well over them, thus protecting
+them from the dust and at the same time giving him a clearer
+vision.</p>
+
+<p>On his next turn, Tad tore down the narrow lane; he shot
+between the posts like an arrow, and the tilting peg was driven
+far into the narrow hoop, wedging the ring on so firmly that it
+afterwards required force to loosen and remove it.</p>
+
+<p>Without halting his pony, Tad rode on, out a circle and came
+back at a lively gallop, pulling up before the stand of dry goods
+boxes, where the young woman who was to award the prize stood
+swinging her handkerchief, while the spectators set up a
+deafening roar of applause.</p>
+
+<p>Tad was holding the tilting peg aloft, displaying the ring
+wedged on it. He made the young woman a sweeping bow, his
+sombrero almost touching the ground as he did so.</p>
+
+<p>Another shout went up when the handsome spurs were handed to
+him, which the enthusiastic young woman first wrapped in her own
+handkerchief before passing the prize over to him. And amid the
+din, Tad heard the familiar "Oh, Wow! Wow!" in the shrill voice
+of Stacy Brown.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXI</h3>
+
+<h4>THE FAT BOY'S DISCOVERY</h4>
+
+<p>"I saw him! I saw him, Tad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Saw who, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you, I did. Don't you s'pose I know what my eyes tell
+me in confidence. Don't you to go to contradicting to me."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy had fairly overwhelmed Tad Butler with the importance of
+his discovery; but, thus far, Tad had not the least idea what it
+was all about.</p>
+
+<p>"When you get quieted down perhaps you'll be good enough to
+tell me who it is you saw?"</p>
+
+<p>"The man, the man!"</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! That's about as clear as the water in an alkali sink.
+What man?"</p>
+
+<p>"The one we saw on the train. Don't you know?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad thought a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean the one we heard talking just before we got to
+Bluewater?" Butler had entirely forgotten the incident.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's him! That's him," exploded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You say that fellow&mdash;Lasar, that's his name&mdash;is he
+here!"</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-huh."</p>
+
+<p>"Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"He got off the stage down by the postoffice, just when I was
+coming up here."</p>
+
+<p>"Was he alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"The other fellow wasn't with him, if that's what you
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." Tad went over in his mind the conversation the man
+Lasar had held with his companion, in which the pair were
+plotting against some one by the name of Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, Chunky, it's none of our concern. I think we must
+have magnified the incident. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He'll bear watching, Tad. He will and it's muh&mdash;
+muh&mdash;you understand who's going to do it," declared Chunky,
+swelling out his chest and tapping it with his right fist.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, go ahead," laughed Tad. "It's time some of us get
+into more trouble. The Professor will begin to think we've got a
+fever, or something, if we let two days in succession pass
+without stirring up something."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea," exploded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"There you go. It's coming now."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go tell the policeman."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you ninny, there are no policemen here. Perhaps there is
+a sheriff. Hello, here comes the gentleman who gave me the advice
+that helped me to win those handsome spurs. He's introducing
+himself to the Professor and Mr. Kringle. Let's go over."</p>
+
+<p>Forgetting for the moment the subject they were discussing,
+Tad and Stacy strolled over to the camp-fire.</p>
+
+<p>"O Tad, this is Mr. Marquand, Mr. James Marquand from
+Albuquerque. He wants to know you. And this is another one of our
+Pony Rider Boys, Master Stacy Brown," said the Professor,
+presenting his boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Marquand!" exclaimed both boys under their breaths.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to know you, Master Butler. That was a very fine
+piece of work you did this afternoon. You've steady nerves."</p>
+
+<p>"If there's any credit due it is to you. Your suggestion
+helped me to win the prize. Without it I should have failed,"
+answered Tad generously.</p>
+
+<p>"Which way are you headed?" asked Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"Guadalupes," answered the guide. "The boys want to explore
+some of the old pueblos."</p>
+
+<p>"And I also," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I understand there
+is much of interest in them."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say so," muttered their guest.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like a few moments to speak with you in private, if you
+can spare the time," said Tad in a low voice, at the first
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>"At your service now, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"No; not here."</p>
+
+<p>"Then come to my room at the hotel. I'll fix it with the
+others," said Mr. Marquand, observing at once that the lad had
+some serious purpose in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend Chunky will go with me, if agreeable to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right. Professor, if you have no objection I
+should like to have these two young men go to my quarters with me
+for a little while. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Don't stay out too late, boys."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Wonder what they've got up their sleeves?" muttered Ned,
+watching the receding figures of his two companions and Mr.
+Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"You may talk," smiled the latter after they were well
+started.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather not until we are where we shall not be overheard,"
+answered Tad promptly.</p>
+
+<p>All three fell silent. The boys followed their host to his
+room, apparently without having been observed. The little village
+was too full of its own pleasures to notice.</p>
+
+<p>"Be seated, boys. I take for granted that neither of you
+smoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what can I do for you? I am sure you have something of
+importance to yourselves on your minds."</p>
+
+<p>"Not to us specially. Perhaps to you, though," replied
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed?"</p>
+
+<p>"We may be foolish. If so, you will understand that we have no
+motive beyond a desire to serve you."</p>
+
+<p>"That goes without saying."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know a man by the name of Lasar&mdash;Bob Lasar, Mr.
+Marquand?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand started, eyeing both lads questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he is associated with me in a business venture."</p>
+
+<p>"Told you so," interjected Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"What of him?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad wished he was well out of it all. To be obliged to tell
+all he knew of Bob Lasar, and to the latter's partner, was rather
+a troublesome undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>Plucking up courage, Tad briefly related all that he and his
+companion had overheard on the train as they were approaching
+Bluewater to all of which their host listened with grave
+attention and increasing interest.</p>
+
+<p>"The incident probably would not have come back to me again
+but for certain things that happened to-day," Tad continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Would either of you know Lasar were you to see him again, do
+you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend Chunky Brown saw him here to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Saw him get out of the stage in front of this very hotel,"
+nodded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right. He is here. Mr. Lasar had stopped off at a
+near-by town on a personal matter. Can you describe the man whom
+you saw with him on the train?"</p>
+
+<p>"As I remember him, he was slightly taller than Mr. Lasar,
+with red hair and a moustache of the same shade."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's Joe Comstock. No doubt about that," nodded Mr.
+Marquand. "You didn't hear them say what their plan was,
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not definitely. Only that they intended to rid themselves of
+you after having obtained possession of your plans for finding
+the treasure, or at least learning where it is hidden."</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand sat thoughtfully silent for several minutes, the
+lines of his face growing tense and hard. The boys could see that
+he was exerting, a strong effort to control himself.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you haven't told them your plans?" questioned Tad,
+in a subdued voice.</p>
+
+<p>"No. I was going to do so to-night, if Comstock had arrived.
+He may get in yet."</p>
+
+<p>"But you won't do so now&mdash;will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! I thank you, boys," exclaimed their host, extending an
+impulsive hand to each at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;then our information <i>is</i> going to be of some
+use to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"More than you can have any idea of. You have done me a
+greater service than you know. I thank you&mdash;thank you from
+the bottom of my heart! Perhaps, ere long I may be able to show
+my appreciation in a more substantial manner."</p>
+
+<p>Marquand ceased speaking abruptly and began pacing back and
+forth, hands thrust deep into his coat pockets. He was a man of
+slight build, but strong and wiry. He was well past middle age,
+erect and forceful. Looking at him, Tad found himself wondering
+how such a man could have gotten into the clutches of two such
+rascals as Bob Lasar and Joe Comstock. Tad hoped their host would
+offer some explanation, while Chunky was nearly bursting with
+curiosity. Mr. Marquand appeared to have forgotten their presence
+entirely.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we had better be going now," suggested Tad,
+rising.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait!" commanded their host. "Sit down! I have something to
+say to you. Then, perhaps, I'll walk back to your camp and have a
+talk with the Professor. What sort of man is your guide?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's a very fine man&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's my idea. What you heard on the train is borne out by
+several little things that have come under my observation within
+the last few days, but I did not think they would go as far as
+you have indicated. I will tell you frankly, that I expect the
+treasure which we hope to find to be a big one. How I happened to
+take these men in with me, in the search for it, is unnecessary
+to state. However, I am done with them, now, for good. They know
+that I have not put my information on paper, or else they might
+have made an end of me before this."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the treasure near this vicinity, Mr. Marquand?" asked
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"About two days' journey. I expect to find it at or near the
+ruins of an old Pueblo house. You know they built their homes one
+on top of another. Some of their adobe houses are six and seven
+stories high. Even if we locate the place, we may experience
+great difficulty in finding that of which we are in search. How
+would you boys like to join me? It will be an interesting
+experience for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Help&mdash;help you find the buried treasure?" questioned
+Chunky, his face red with suppressed excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Great!" chorused the lads.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll talk with Professor Zepplin. Come, we will go over to
+the camp now."</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Marquand and the Professor had finished their
+conference, Tad and Chunky leaned forward eagerly to learn the
+result.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," nodded Mr. Marquand; "you're all going to help me find
+the ancient Pueblo treasure."</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXII</h3>
+
+<h4>IN HAND-TO-HAND CONFLICT</h4>
+
+<p>"I'm done with you, Bob Lasar! And you, too, Comstock!"
+thundered Mr. Marquand, as the rascals stood at the door of his
+room some two hours later.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand had been waiting for them, and with him was Tad
+Butler, whom he had urged to accompany him back to the hotel that
+he might be a witness to what took place. Perhaps, too, Mr.
+Marquand reasoned that his former associates might not take the
+same attitude toward him in the presence of the boy that they
+might otherwise take.</p>
+
+<p>The two men had halted in the doorway as Mr. Marquand hurled
+his decision at them.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar shoved his companion into the room and closed the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down, both of you! So you thought to hoodwink me&mdash;to
+get the secret of the treasure and then put me out of the way,
+eh? That was your game, was it? Well, it's all off now. I'll have
+nothing further to do with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;why, Mr. Marquand, it's all a mistake!" began one
+of the pair.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you'll deny having plotted against me on a train on
+your way to Bluewater."</p>
+
+<p>"I deny ever having tried to put up a game on&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Master Tad, did you ever see these men before?"</p>
+
+<p>They turned on the lad quickly. Neither man had previously
+observed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the train, as you mentioned just now."</p>
+
+<p>"And they were plotting my life?"</p>
+
+<p>"So it seemed to me, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you to say to that?" demanded Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"That the boy lies!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad's face flushed angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"That'll do," said Marquand, more quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you believe him&mdash;you do not believe me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe him. I know he has told me the truth. Now, it isn't
+necessary to explain to you. You deserve no explanation and
+you'll get none further than what you already have."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No 'buts' about it. I said I was done with you. Now, I want
+you to get out of my sight! You're a couple of rogues&mdash;so
+crooked that you can't walk straight."</p>
+
+<p>Bob Lasar's face had grown livid with rage. His anger was
+rapidly getting beyond all bounds. Tad observed it and saw the
+storm coming. It arrived a moment later when Lasar whipped out a
+revolver.</p>
+
+<p>Before Mr. Marquand could make a move to draw his own weapon
+Bob had aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, instantly divining the purpose of the man when he saw his
+hand fly to the pistol holster under his coat, sprang
+forward.</p>
+
+<p>There was a deafening report. A bullet buried itself in the
+ceiling of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Tad had struck up the desperado's arm just in the nick of
+time, thus preventing a terrible crime. But the end was not yet.
+There were five more bullets in the cylinder of the weapon, as
+the lad knew full well.</p>
+
+<p>He grabbed Lasar's arm, hanging on desperately, at the same
+time trying to get a wrestling hold.</p>
+
+<p>The weapon went off again, this time sending a bullet into the
+floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out for the other fellow!" shouted Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand already had done so. Comstock had just made an
+attempt to draw his own weapon when Marquand threw himself upon
+the man. The two went crashing to the floor, while Tad and Lasar
+were battling all over the room, the latter's weapon barking
+viciously every little while.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar was much more powerful than his slender antagonist, but
+Tad being very quick on his feet managed to keep out of the way
+of the revolver and at the same time to avoid being thrown.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, the boy gave the gun-hand of his opponent a quick
+twist.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar uttered a sharp exclamation of pain. The revolver
+clattered to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Quick as a flash, Tad threw a leg behind the knee of his
+antagonist, gave it a quick jerk, with the result that Lasar went
+to the floor with great violence.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, occupants of the hotel were running down the
+hall, while others were hammering at the door. Lasar had turned
+the key upon entering the room.</p>
+
+<p>Those within did not have time to listen to the demands of
+those in the hall, who were demanding admission.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand, as soon as he got his opponent down, quickly
+disarmed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up!" he commanded. "I don't want to kill you. I ought to
+do so, but I won't."</p>
+
+<p>He sprang from Comstock, and jerking Tad from Lasar, whom the
+lad was making heroic efforts to hold down, pulled the fallen
+rascal to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out, both of you!" he commanded, covering both his
+visitors with his weapon.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar, in struggling to his feet, reached for his
+revolver.</p>
+
+<p>"Drop it or I'll fill you full of lead!"</p>
+
+<p>At that instant, the door burst open and half a dozen men
+sprang into the room.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar, seeing that he was caught, leaped through the open
+window. He was followed closely by Comstock. He, too, made a
+clean leap, landing on the soft ground below.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the meaning of this shooting?" shouted the proprietor,
+his face flushed with anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Two men tried to murder me," replied Marquand coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks as though you were doing your share of it," snapped
+the proprietor, noting his guest's belligerent attitude and drawn
+weapon.</p>
+
+<p>Just then three shots in quick succession were fired from the
+outside. Two of the bullets narrowly missed some of the men, who
+had forced their way into the room.</p>
+
+<p>As the third shot was fired, Tad threw one hand to his head;
+then drew it away grinning.</p>
+
+<p>"Those rascals have evidently gotten a new supply of fire
+arms," he said.</p>
+
+<p>A bullet had gone through his hair and his scalp burned where
+the lead had brushed it.</p>
+
+<p>All of the newcomers drew their revolvers and sprang to the
+window.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't shoot!" cried the Pony Rider Boy; "You'll hit the wrong
+one. There are a hundred people down there."</p>
+
+<p>"He's right!" shouted Mr. Marquand, pushing his way between
+the men and the window, at the imminent risk of getting a bullet
+in his back from either Lasar or Comstock. "Let 'em go. They'll
+be running for home about this time. They are a couple of
+scoundrels, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"But the damage. Look at my fine room."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll pay for the damage, and I'll quit your hotel now. I've
+had enough of the place," retorted Mr. Marquand, pulling a roll
+of bills from his pocket. "How much is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How much is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess twenty-five would be about right. You
+see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Here's your twenty-five. Clear out!"</p>
+
+<p>With many apologies the proprietor, accompanied by the others,
+backed from the room.</p>
+
+<p>"We came pretty near having a fight, didn't we?" Marquand
+smiled, looking at Tad for the first time since the disturbance
+began.</p>
+
+<p>"Almost."</p>
+
+<p>"He would have got me if you hadn't knocked up his gun-hand.
+That's another one I owe you. Well, maybe we'll have a pay day
+soon."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better go back to camp with me, and bunk in with us
+to-night," suggested the lad, "We shall want to make an early
+start in the morning, anyway. I think it will be safer there,
+too. That pair won't dare come fooling around our camp, knowing
+they can't trifle with us," added the lad, with a note of pride
+in his tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do it. Not that I'm afraid of anything that walks on two
+legs, but the sooner we hitch up the better it'll be. Got room
+enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty. Where's your pony?"</p>
+
+<p>"Up near your camp. Come on."</p>
+
+<p>The man and the boy walked from the hotel, the former looking
+neither to the right nor to the left, Tad observing their
+surroundings half
+suspiciously. He was sure they had not yet heard the last of
+Bob Lasar and Joe Comstock. In this he was right.</p>
+
+<p>Marquand and the boy had gone no more than ten rods from the
+hotel, when the report of a revolver was heard, and a bullet
+fired from the corner of an adobe building passed within an inch
+of Mr. Marquand's head.</p>
+
+<p>With wonderful quickness the latter drew and sent three shots
+at the flash.</p>
+
+<p>Whether he had hit any thing or not he did not know.</p>
+
+<p>"Run! I don't want you to get hit," cried the boy's new
+friend, grasping Tad by the hand and starting off at a brisk
+pace.</p>
+
+<p>"Bullets don't scare me, so long as they don't hit me,"
+laughed young Butler.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIII</h3>
+
+<h4>MOONBEAM POINTS THE WAY</h4>
+
+<p>"The moon will be here in a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"What was it the old Pueblo chief said, Mr. Marquand?"</p>
+
+<p>"'When the full of the moon has come and shoots its first
+arrow over the crests of the Guadalupes, it points the way to the
+treasure of my ancient people,'" quoted Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"I presume that would be taken to mean that, at a certain
+phase of the moon, one of its beams points to where the treasure
+is hidden," explained Professor Zepplin. "But what leads you to
+believe this is the Pueblo village of your particular chief's
+ancestors?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I don't see why it might not be any of the ruined adobe
+houses in this valley?" said Ned Rector.</p>
+
+<p>They had journeyed rapidly over mountain and plain to the
+valley of the Guadalupes, where Mr. Marquand had informed them
+that he expected to find the treasure. In the three days consumed
+on the journey, the travelers had seen nothing of either Lasar or
+Comstock. Evidently the pair had decided to leave the country
+while they still had the chance, fearing that perhaps Mr.
+Marquand might invoke the aid of the law to rid himself of them
+if they remained.</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider Boys and their outfit had arrived that
+afternoon, and during the remaining hours of daylight they had
+been excitedly exploring the ancient dwellings, most of which
+were in a dilapidated condition. There was one, however, two
+stories in height, that was in an excellent state of
+preservation. In fact it appeared as if it had only recently been
+vacated. After an examination of all the ruins Mr. Marquand had
+discovered what led him to believe that this was the structure
+which the old Pueblo chief referred to in his description of the
+resting place of the treasure. The chief had said he had never
+been near the spot. He was the only member of his tribe to whom
+the secret had been handed down, and he in turn had transmitted
+it to the white man who now stood within the shadow of the
+ancient dwelling place.</p>
+
+<p>"I have my reasons for believing this is the place," answered
+Mr. Marquand, in response to the Professor's question. "If I am
+wrong, we shall have to wait until the moon rises to-morrow
+night. Come inside now, and we will close the door."</p>
+
+<p>All hands crowded into the cool chamber, closing the heavy
+wooden door that barred the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't see how moonlight can get through solid walls,"
+muttered Stacy. "Ought to leave the door open."</p>
+
+<p>No one answered him. In the darkened chamber, with its
+peculiar, musty odors, the boys did not feel in the mood for
+hilarity or even for speech. There was something about their
+situation that seemed to impress them profoundly.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand over against the wall on the side, so as not to
+obstruct any light that might possibly get in here," directed Mr.
+Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>The others moved silently to the side of the room indicated by
+him. They had stood thus for fully five minutes when an
+exclamation from Stacy broke the stillness harshly.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look!" cried the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>A slender shaft of light had suddenly pierced the blackness,
+coming they knew not whence. It was there.</p>
+
+<p>"Must be a pin hole through the wall up near the ceiling,"
+suggested Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>The silver thread shot across the chamber, ending abruptly on
+the adobe floor some three feet from the back wall.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the spot!" shouted Mr. Marquand triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>He threw himself on the floor, and with his knife scratched a
+cross on the spot where the moonbeam rested. Scarcely had he done
+so when the delicate shaft of light disappeared as suddenly as it
+had come.</p>
+
+<p>"It's gone," breathed the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"But it has pointed the way."</p>
+
+<p>"And we have followed the silver trail to its end," added Ned
+Rector poetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring the tools!" cried Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>While they were doing so, he struck a match and lighted the
+lantern that they had brought with them from their camp in the
+foothills. His first care was to bar the door with the heavy
+wooden timber that he had cut and which he now slipped into its
+fastenings.</p>
+
+<p>A close examination of the floor revealed no marks save those
+put there by the treasure-hunter's knife.</p>
+
+<p>"This house seems to be built on the solid ground. I do not
+think you will find anything under it," protested the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"There are houses under every one of these buildings,"
+answered Mr. Marquand. He held a short, keen edged bar in place,
+while Kris Kringle swung the maul. Gradually they cut a ring
+about two feet in diameter about the cross. The material of which
+the floor had been made had been tempered with the years and was
+almost as hard as flint.</p>
+
+<p>The steady thud of the heavy maul, accompanied by the click,
+click of the cutting bar, the dim light, the silent, expectant
+faces, formed a weird picture in this silent desert place.</p>
+
+<p>After a full half hour of this the two men paused, and stood
+back, drawing sleeves across their foreheads to wipe away the
+perspiration.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy Brown walked pompously over to the circle.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe I can fall through it. If I can't, nobody can," he
+said, jumping up and down on the spot where they had been
+cutting.</p>
+
+<p>There followed a rambling sound, and with a yell, Stacy Brown
+suddenly disappeared from sight. In place of the circle in which
+he had been standing was a black, ragged hole, from which
+particles of the mortar were still crumbling and rattling to the
+bottom of the pit.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you there?" cried Kris Kringle, leaping to the spot,
+thrusting the lantern down through the opening. "Master
+Stacy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" responded the boy from the depths.</p>
+
+<p>"Did it hurt you?"</p>
+
+<p>"How far did you fall?"</p>
+
+<p>This and other questions were hurled at the fat boy, as his
+companions crowded about the opening.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm killed. That'll answer all your questions," replied
+Stacy. "Hurry up! Get my remains out of this place."</p>
+
+<p>The rays of the lantern disclosed a short stairway, built of
+the same material of which the house itself had been
+constructed.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand forced himself past the guide and was down the
+steps in a twinkling. He was followed by the wondering Pony Rider
+Boys, Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle in short order, for all
+crowded down through the narrow opening.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky had hit the top step and rolled all the way down. He
+had scrambled to his feet and was rubbing his shins by the time
+his friends reached him. His clothes were torn and he was covered
+with dust.</p>
+
+<p>"Fell down the cellar, didn't I?" he grinned.</p>
+
+<p>But no one gave any heed to him now. Mr. Marquand had snatched
+at the lantern and was running from point to point of the chamber
+in which they found themselves. He was laboring under great
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's another opening," he shouted. "We haven't got to the
+bottom yet."</p>
+
+<p>Another flight of stairs led to still another and smaller
+chamber below. Mr. Marquand let out a yell the moment he reached
+the bottom. The others rushed pell-mell after him.</p>
+
+<p>There, with it's top just showing above the dirt was a long
+iron chest.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me the maul!" shouted the excited treasure seeker.</p>
+
+<p>He attacked the rusty iron fastenings; at last the cover
+yielded to his thunderous blows and falling on its edge, toppled
+over to the floor with a crash.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody's old clothes," chuckled Stacy, peering into the
+open chest.</p>
+
+<p>The garments, priestly robes that lay at the top, fell to
+pieces the instant Mr. Marquand laid violent hands on them.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look! Was I right or was I wrong?" he cried, beside
+himself with joy.</p>
+
+<p>There, before their astonished eyes, lay a chest of gold&mdash;
+coins dulled by age, small nuggets and chunks of silver, all
+heaped indiscriminately in the treasure chest.</p>
+
+<p>"I did it!" shouted Chunky. "I did it with my little feet! I
+fell in and discovered the treasure!"</p>
+
+<p>The tongues of the Pony Rider Boys were suddenly loosened.
+Such a shout as they set up probably never had been heard before
+in the ancient adobe mansion of the Pueblos. Cheer after cheer
+echoed through the chambers and reached the ears of a dozen
+desperadoes who were skulking amid the sage brush without.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin scooped up a handful of the coins and
+examined them under the lantern.</p>
+
+<p>"Old Spanish coins," he informed them. "Pure gold. And look at
+these nuggets! Where do you suppose the Indians found them?"</p>
+
+<p>"There are hidden mines in the State," informed Mr. Marquand.
+"Some of these days they will be discovered. I have been hunting
+for them myself, but without success. Boys, what do you think of
+it now? If it had not been for you I might never have seen this
+sight."</p>
+
+<p>Their eyes were fairly bulging as they gazed at the heap of
+gold. Chunky squatted down scooping up a double handful and
+letting the coins run through his fingers. Then the other boys
+dipped in, laughing for pure joy, more because their adventure
+had borne fruit than for the love of the gold itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Must be more'n a bushel of it," announced Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Those old Franciscans must have been saving up for a rainy
+day. And it never rained here at all," suggested Ned
+humorously.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we count it?" asked Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"Just as you wish," replied the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Were I in your place, Mr. Marquand, I should get the stuff
+out of here as soon as possible. You can't tell what may happen.
+I would suggest that we secure the treasure and be on our way at
+once. You will want to get it to a bank as quickly as possible.
+This is one of the things that cannot be kept quiet."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right. Will somebody go over to the camp and get
+those gunny sacks of mine? I don't want to lose sight of my find
+for a minute. You know how I feel about it&mdash;not that I do
+not trust you. You know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely we understand," smiled Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"And you all have an interest in it&mdash;you shall share the
+treasure with me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we don't," shouted the boys. "We've had more than a
+million dollars worth of fun out of it already."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," added the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll discuss that later," said Mr. Marquand firmly. "Just
+now we must take care of what we have found. Who will get the
+bags?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will," answered the boys promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"No; you stay here. I'll get them," answered Kris Kringle.
+"Light me up the stairs so I don't break my neck in this old
+rookery."</p>
+
+<p>One of the boys lighted the way to the next floor, then
+stepped back into the cellar, where Mr. Marquand was turning over
+the treasure in an effort to find out if the pile extended all
+the way to the bottom of the chest.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Kris Kringle unbarred the door and threw it
+part way open. He did it cautiously, as if half expecting
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>He threw the door to with a bang, springing to one side, and
+dropping the bar back into place.</p>
+
+<p>The reason for his sudden change of plans was that no sooner
+had the door opened than several thirty-eight calibre bullets
+were fired from the sage brush outside.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle waited to learn whether those in the cellar had
+heard the shots. But they had not. They were some distance below
+ground, and their minds were wholly taken up with the great
+treasure before them.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments the guide once more removed the bar, first
+having drawn his revolver in case of sudden surprise. Then he
+cautiously opened the door an inch or so.</p>
+
+<p>At first nothing happened. The moonlit landscape lay as silent
+and peaceful as if there were not a human being on the
+desert.</p>
+
+<p>There were six distinct flashes all at once and a rain of lead
+showered into the door.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle took a pot shot at one of the flashes, then
+slammed the door shut and barred it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well; I hope that would get you," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>Hastily retracing his steps he called the party up to the
+second cellar.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you fetch the sacks?" called Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I've fetched trouble. It's coming in sackfuls."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"We're besieged."</p>
+
+<p>"Besieged?" wondered the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; there's a crowd outside, and they've been trying to
+shoot me up. Must be some of your friends, Mr. Marquand."</p>
+
+<p>"Lasar and Comstock? The scoundrels!" growled Mr. Marquand.
+"But we'll make short work of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so easy as you think There are more than two out
+there&mdash;there's a crowd and they've got rifles. Our rifles
+are over in the camp. I've got a six-shooter and so have you, but
+what do they amount to against half a dozen rifles?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll talk to them, if I can get any place to make them hear,"
+announced Mr. Marquand, starting up the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon there's a window on the second floor, but you'd
+better be careful that you don't get winged," warned the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand went right on, and the others followed. As the
+guide had said there was a small window on the floor above the
+ground, apparently the only one in the house.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand hailed the besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you and what do you mean by shooting us up in this
+fashion?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to know who we are, Jim Marquand, and you know what
+we want!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know you all right, Lasar, and I'll make you smart for
+this."</p>
+
+<p>"The place is as much mine as it is yours," answered Lasar.
+"And I propose to take it! If you'll make an even divvy of what
+you have found, or expect to find, we'll go away and let you
+alone. If you don't we'll take the whole outfit."</p>
+
+<p>"Take it, take it!" jeered Marquand. "You couldn't take it in
+a hundred years&mdash;not unless you used artillery."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we'll starve you out," replied the man in the sage
+brush.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out!" warned the guide.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand sprang to one side just as a volley crashed
+through the opening, the bullets rattling to the floor after
+bounding back from the flint-like walls.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they've got you, Mr. Marquand. We can't hold out
+forever. If we had rifles we could pick them off by daylight. But
+when morning comes they'll draw back out of revolver range and
+plunk the first man who shows himself outside. Have you any title
+to this property?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I have bought up a hundred acres about here. The deeds
+are in my pocket. I guess nobody has a better title.".</p>
+
+<p>"His title is all right," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I made
+sure of that before I decided to come with Mr. Marquand."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there's only one thing to be done."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Get a sheriff's posse and bag the whole bunch."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand laughed harshly.</p>
+
+<p>"If we were in a position to get a posse we should be able to
+get away without one. I think we had better go below. This is not
+a very safe place with this open window."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll remain here."</p>
+
+<p>"What for, Kringle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody's got to watch the front door to see that they don't
+play any tricks on us. It's clouding up, and if the night gets
+dark they'll try to get in."</p>
+
+<p>"How far is it to a place where we could get a sheriff?" asked
+Tad, who had been thinking deeply.</p>
+
+<p>"Hondo. Fifteen miles due east of here as the moon rises.
+Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I were sure I could find my way, I think I might get some
+help," answered the lad quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"You!" snapped Mr. Marquand, turning on him.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had a rope. Perhaps I can do it without one."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to know how?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand was inclined to treat the proposition lightly,
+believing that such a move as proposed by Tad Butler was an
+impossibility. Kris Kringle, however, was regarding the boy
+inquiringly. He knew that Tad had some plan in mind and that it
+was likely to be a good one.</p>
+
+<p>"The rascals are all out in front of the house, aren't
+they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Master Tad. There's no reason why they should be behind
+the house. They know we can't get out that way; because there is
+no opening on that side."</p>
+
+<p>Tad nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I can do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Tad, what foolish idea have you in mind now? I cannot consent
+to your taking any more chances."</p>
+
+<p>"Professor, we are taking long enough chances as it is. Unless
+we are relieved soon, we shall be starved out and perhaps
+worse."</p>
+
+<p>"What's your plan?" interrupted Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"See that hole in the roof up there?" Tad pointed.</p>
+
+<p>They had not seen it before, but they did now. A light
+suddenly dawned upon Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Boy, you are the only level-headed one in the outfit. You
+would have made a corking Indian fighter."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm the Indian fighter," chimed in Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You can boost me up to the hole and I'll go over the rear of
+the house, get to the camp and from there ride to Hondo."</p>
+
+<p>Tad's three companions started a cheer, which the guide
+sternly put down.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't consent to any such plan," decided the Professor
+sternly.</p>
+
+<p>The rest reasoned with him until, finally, he did consent,
+though he knew the lad would be taking desperate chances. Tad
+understood that as well as the rest of them, but he was burning
+to be off.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle gave him careful directions as to how to get to
+the place.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your rifle with you, if you can get it. After you get
+half a mile or a mile away shoot once. That will tell us you are
+all right."</p>
+
+<p>"You can help me in getting away from here, if you will do
+some shooting to cover my escape," suggested Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good idea," agreed the guide. "You wait on the roof
+until we begin to rake the sage with our revolvers. Then drop.
+Take a wide circuit, so that you won't stumble over the
+enemy."</p>
+
+<p>Tad gave his belt a hitch, stuffed his sombrero under it and
+announced himself as ready.</p>
+
+<p>The guide stepped under the hole. Tad quickly climbed to his
+shoulder and stood up like a circus performer. He could easily
+reach the roof with his hands. A second more and his feet were
+lifted from the shoulders of the guide. They saw the figure in
+the opening; then it disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>A slight scraping noise was the only sound they heard.</p>
+
+<p>Tad flattened himself out and wriggled along toward the rear
+of the roof. Peering over the edge he made sure that there was no
+one about. He then lay quietly waiting for the shooting to
+begin.</p>
+
+<p>"Let 'em have it," directed Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>A sudden fusillade was emptied into the sage brush.</p>
+
+<p>Tad swung himself over the edge of the roof, hung on for a few
+seconds, then dropped lightly to the ground.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIV</h3>
+
+<h4>CONCLUSION</h4>
+
+<p>The enemy answered the shots with a volley, and for a few
+moments a lot of ammunition was wasted while the odor of
+gunpowder assailed nostrils on both sides.</p>
+
+<p>After that, the shooting died away. As the minutes lengthened
+into an hour, and no word of Tad's mission had been received, the
+defenders began to grow restless. They were under a double
+tension now. Mr. Marquand was pacing up and down the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, forgetful of the danger that lurked out there, he
+poked his head out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>A sharp <i>pat</i> on the stone window frame beside him, after
+the bullet had snipped off the tip of his left ear, caused Mr.
+Marquand to draw back suddenly. He stalked about the floor,
+holding a handkerchief to the wounded ear, "talking in dashes and
+asterisks," as Chunky put it.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle's face wore a grim smile. He was taking chances
+of being shot, every second now, but he insisted in holding his
+place at the side of the window so he could listen and watch.</p>
+
+<p>A thin, fleecy veil covered the moon, but it was not dense
+enough to fully hide objects on the landscape.</p>
+
+<p>"All keep quiet, now," warned Kris Kringle. "We should get a
+signal pretty soon."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid something has happened to the boy," muttered the
+Professor. Then all fell silent.</p>
+
+<p>"There it goes!" exclaimed the guide in a tone of great
+relief.</p>
+
+<p>The crack of a rifle afar off sounded clear and distinct.</p>
+
+<p>"He's made it. Thank heaven!" breathed Mr. Marquand
+fervently.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky leaped to the opening, swung his sombrero as he leaned
+out, and uttered a long, shrill "y-e-o-w!"</p>
+
+<p>A bullet chipped the adobe at his side. Stacy ducked, throwing
+himself on the floor, sucking a thumb energetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Wing you?" inquired Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody burned my thumb," wailed the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bullet that burned you. Served you right too.
+Somebody tie that boy up or he'll be killed," counseled the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>The besiegers could not have failed to hear the shot from
+Tad's rifle, but it did not seem to disturb them. They evidently
+did not even dream that one of the party had escaped their
+vigilance and that he was well on his way for assistance.</p>
+
+<p>The wait from that time on was a tedious and trying one,
+though each felt a certain sense of elation that Tad Butler had
+succeeded in outwitting the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>It was shortly after two o'clock in the morning when Kris
+Kringle espied a party of horsemen slowly encircling the adobe
+house. The riders were strung out far off on the plain. Those
+hiding in the sage in front of the house could not see the
+approaching horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>"There they come," whispered Kris Kringle. "Begin
+shooting!"</p>
+
+<p>The two men started firing, while the besiegers poured volley
+after volley through the window.</p>
+
+<p>The posse at this, closed in at a gallop. Their rifles now
+began to crash.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes it was all over. The sheriff's men surrounded
+the besiegers, placing every man of them under arrest. After this
+the officers quickly liberated the Pony Rider Boys. Three of the
+besiegers had been wounded. Among them, was the Mexican whom Tad
+had defeated in the tilting game a few days before.</p>
+
+<p>When all was over, the boys hoisted Tad Butler on their
+shoulders and marched around the adobe house shouting and
+singing. Mr. Marquand decided to go back with the posse, using
+these men as a guard for his treasure. It was understood that the
+Pony Rider Boys were to follow the next morning. Before leaving,
+Mr. Marquand called the Professor aside.</p>
+
+<p>"There is, on a rough estimate, all of sixty thousand dollars
+in the treasure chest. Had it not been for you and your brave
+boys I should have lost it. So, when you reach Hondo to-morrow, I
+shall take great pleasure in presenting to each of you a draft
+for two thousand dollars."</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin protested, but Mr. Marquand insisted, and he
+kept his word. After the posse, with their prisoners and the
+treasure, had started, the Pony Rider Boys, arm in arm, started
+off across the moonlit meadows toward their camp. It was their
+last night in camp. Their summer's journeyings had come to an
+end&mdash;a fitting close to their adventurous travels. Not a
+word did they speak until they reached the camp. There, they
+turned and gazed off over the plain which was all silvered under
+the now clear light of the moon.</p>
+
+<p>"It has been a silver trail," mused Tad Butler.</p>
+
+<p>"It has indeed," breathed his companions</p>
+
+<p>"And we've reached the end of The Silver Trail," added the
+Professor, coming up at that moment. "To-morrow I'll breathe the
+first free breath that I've drawn in three months."</p>
+
+<p>The boys circled slowly around him and joined hands. Then
+their voices rose on the mellow desert air to the tune of</p>
+
+<p align="Center" class="center">"Home, Sweet Home."</p>
+
+<p>A week later saw the wanderers back in Chillicothe. Their
+welcome was a warm one. Banker Perkins found his once ailing son
+now transformed into a sturdy young giant.</p>
+
+<p>We shall meet them again in the next volume of this
+series&mdash;in a tale of surpassing wonders&mdash;published
+under the title: "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or,
+the Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch." It will be found to be by far
+the most interesting volume so far published about the splendid
+Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<h4>The End.</h4>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico, by 
+Frank Gee Patchin
+
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
+
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+++ b/4991.txt
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+Project Gutenberg's The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico, 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 New Mexico
+
+Author: Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Posting Date: May 26, 2013 [EBook #4991]
+Release Date: January, 2004
+First Posted: April 7, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jim Weiler
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
+
+or
+
+The End of the Silver Trail
+
+
+
+by Frank Gee Patchin, 1910
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+SOMETHING IN THE WIND
+
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"Only one of the boys in the seat behind us, snoring."
+
+"Sure they're asleep?"
+
+"Yes, but what if they're not? They are only kids. They wouldn't
+understand."
+
+"Don't you be too sure about that. I've heard about those kids. Heard
+about 'em over in Nevada. There's four of them. They call themselves
+the Pony Rider Boys; and they're no tenderfeet, if all I hear is true.
+They have done some pretty lively stunts."
+
+"Yes, that's all right, Bob, but we ain't going to begin by getting
+cold feet over a bunch of kids out for a holiday."
+
+"Where they going?"
+
+"Don't know. Presume they'll be taking a trip over the plains or
+heading for the mountains. They've got a stock car up ahead jammed
+full of stock and equipment."
+
+"Scarecrows?"
+
+"No. Good stock. Some of the slickest ponies you ever set eyes on.
+There's one roan there that I wouldn't mind owning. Maybe we can make
+a trade," and the speaker chuckled softly to himself.
+
+A snore louder than those that had preceded it, caused the two men to
+laugh heartily.
+
+The snore had come from Stacy Brown. Both he and Tad Butler were
+resting from their long journey on the Atlantic and Pacific train.
+Further to the rear of the car, their companions, Ned Rector and
+Walter Perkins, also were curled up in a double seat, with Professor
+Zepplin sitting very straight as if sleep were furthest from his
+thoughts. They were nearing their destination now, and within the hour
+would be unloading their stock and equipment at Bluewater.
+
+"They're asleep all right," grinned one of the two men who occupied
+the seat just ahead of Stacy and Tad. "Is old man Marquand going to
+meet us at the station?"
+
+"Oh, no. That wouldn't be a good thing. Might attract too much
+attention. Told him not to. We'll get a couple of ponies at Bluewater
+and ride across the mountains. But we've got to be slick. The old man
+is no fool. He'll hang on to the location of the treasure till the
+last old cat's gone to sleep for good."
+
+"Any idea where the place is?"
+
+"No. Except that it's somewhere south of the Zuni range."
+
+A solitary eye in the seat behind, opened cautiously. The eye belonged
+to Stacy Brown. The last snore had awakened him, and he had lain with
+closed eyes listening to the conversation of the two men.
+
+He gave Tad a gentle nudge, which was returned with a soft pressure on
+Stacy's right arm as a warning that he was to remain quiet.
+
+"Do you know what the treasure consists of?"
+
+"Maybe a mine, but as near as I could draw from Marquand's talk it is
+jewels and Spanish money which one of the old Franciscan monks had
+buried. The Pueblos knew where it was, but they sealed the place up
+after the Pueblo revolution in 1680, and it's been corked tight ever
+since."
+
+"How'd Marquand get wise to it?"
+
+"From an old Pueblo Chief whose life he saved a few months ago. The
+old chief died a little while afterwards, but before he went, he told
+Marquand about the treasure."
+
+"Didn't suppose a redskin had so much gratitude under his tough skin.
+Does the old man know where the place is?"
+
+"No, not exactly. That's where we come in," grinned the speaker. "We
+are going to help him find it."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Oh, well. There's lots of ways to get rid of him."
+
+"You mean?"
+
+"He might tumble off into a canyon, or something of the sort, in the
+night time. Here's the place."
+
+The train was rounding a bend into the little town of Bluewater.
+
+"Sit still," whispered Tad. "I want to get a look at those fellows so
+I'll know them next time I see them."
+
+The Pony Rider boy left his seat, and hurrying to the forward end of
+the car, helped himself to a drink of water from the tank; then slowly
+retraced his steps.
+
+As he walked down the car, he took in the two men in one swift,
+comprehensive glance, then swung his hands to his companions at the
+other end of the car, as a signal that they were arriving at their
+destination.
+
+"Know 'em?" whispered Stacy as Tad began pulling his baggage from the
+rack.
+
+"Never saw either before. Better get your stuff together. This train
+is fast only when it stops. It drags along over the country, but when
+it gets into a station it's always in a hurry to get away," laughed
+Tad.
+
+A few minutes later the party of bronzed young men sprang from the car
+to the station platform, where they instantly became the center of a
+throng of curious villagers.
+
+Readers of the preceding volumes of this series are already too well
+acquainted with the Pony Rider Boys to need a formal introduction. As
+told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES," the lads had set out
+from their homes in Missouri for a summer's vacation in the saddle.
+That first volume detailed how the lads penetrated the fastnesses of
+the Rockies, hunted big game and how they finally discovered the Lost
+Claim, which they won after fighting a battle with the mountaineers,
+thus earning for themselves quite a fortune.
+
+In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS," the boys were again seen to
+advantage. There they joined in a cattle drive across the state as
+cowboys. They played an exciting part in the rough life of the cowmen,
+meeting with many stirring adventures. It will be remembered how, in
+this story, Tad Butler saved a large part of the herd, besides
+performing numerous heroic deeds, including the saving of the life of
+a member of the party from a swollen river. At the end of their
+journey, they solved a deep mystery--a mystery that had perplexed and
+worried the cattle men, besides causing them heavy financial loss.
+
+In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA," the scene shifted to the old
+Custer Trail, the battle ground of one of the most tragic events in
+American history. The story described how Tad Butler overheard a plot
+to stampede and kill a flock of many thousand sheep; how after
+experiencing many hardships, he finally carried the news to the owner
+of the herd; then later, participated in the battle between the cowmen
+and sheep herders, in which the latter emerged victorious.
+
+It will be recalled too, how the Pony Rider Boy was captured by the
+Blackfeet Indians and taken to their mountain retreat, where with a
+young companion he was held until they made their escape with the
+assistance of an Indian maiden; how they were pursued by the savages,
+the bullets from whose rifles singing over the heads of the lads as
+they headed for a river into which they plunged, thus effectually
+throwing off the savage pursuers; and finally, how in time they made
+their way back to the camp of the Pony Riders, having solved the
+mystery of the old Custer Trail.
+
+After these exciting adventures, the lads concluded to cut short their
+Montana trip and go on to the next stage of their journeyings, which
+was destined to be even more stirring than any that had preceded it.
+How Tad Butler and Stacy Brown proved themselves to be real heroes,
+was told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS."
+
+For a long time, an organized band of thieves had been stealing stock
+in the Ozark range, baffling all efforts to apprehend them. The boys
+had been warned to guard their own stock carefully, but despite this,
+their ponies were stolen from camp, one by one and in a most
+mysterious manner, until not an animal was left. Then, one by one, the
+Pony Rider Boys became lost until only Tad and Stacy remained. They
+were facing starvation, and it will be recalled how Tad Butler made a
+plucky trip to the nearest mining camp for assistance. There the boys
+were imprisoned underground by a mine explosion; escaping from which,
+they met with perils every bit as grave, and from which they were
+eventually rescued by Stacy himself.
+
+Through the disaster, the lads solved the Secret of the Ruby Mountain,
+thus putting an end for good to the wholesale thieving in the Ozark
+range.
+
+Though the Pony Rider Boys had suffered many hardships in their
+journeyings, those that lay before them were destined to try them even
+more. In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI," they faced the perils of
+the baking alkali desert. It will be recalled how they fought
+desperately for water when all the usual sources of supply were found
+to have run dry; how Tad and Stacy Brown were captured by a desert
+hermit and thrown into a cave; how, after their escape, they were lost
+in the Desert Maze, and how after many hardships, they finally
+succeeded in making their way to camp, dragging behind them a wild
+coyote that Tad had roped when the boys were beset by the wild beasts
+in the dead of night.
+
+Nothing daunted by their trying experiences the Pony Rider Boys set
+out on the concluding trip of the season--a journey over the historic
+plains and mountains of New Mexico. After a long railroad ride, they
+had finally arrived at the town of Bluewater, from which they were to
+begin their explorations in the southwest.
+
+A guide was to meet and conduct them across the mountains of the Zuni
+range and so on to the southern borders of the state.
+
+By the time they reached the platform of the station, the stock car
+had been uncoupled and was being shifted to a side track where they
+might unload their belongings at their leisure.
+
+"I wonder where that guide is," said Tad.
+
+"He was told to be here," answered the Professor.
+
+"Never mind; we can unload better without him," averred Ned, starting
+off at a brisk trot for their car which had been shunted alongside the
+platform at the rear of the station.
+
+With joyous anticipation of the new scenes and experiences that lay
+before them, the lads set briskly to work, and within an hour had all
+the stock and equipment removed from the car.
+
+There was quite an imposing collection, with their ponies, their
+burros, tents and other equipment, the latter lying strewn all over
+the open level space beyond the station.
+
+"Looks as if a circus had just come to town," laughed Walter.
+
+"We've got a side show, anyway," retorted Ned.
+
+"What's our side show?"
+
+"Chunky's that."
+
+"No; he's the clown. The rest of us are the animals, only we're not in
+cages."
+
+"Hey, fellows, see that funny Mexican on the burro there," laughed
+Chunky. "Guess he never saw an outfit like ours before."
+
+The lads could not repress a laugh as they glanced at the figure
+pointed out by Stacy.
+
+The man was sitting on the burro, his feet extended on the ground
+before him, hands thrust deep into trousers pockets. He was observing
+the work of the boys curiously. The fellow's high, conical head was
+crowned by a peaked Mexican hat, much the worse for wear, while his
+coarse, black hair was combed straight down over a pair of small,
+piercing, dark eyes. The complexion, or such of it as was visible
+through the mask of wiry hair, was swarthy, his form thin and
+insignificant.
+
+Stacy Brown strode over to him somewhat pompously.
+
+"You speak English?" questioned the boy.
+
+"Si, senor."
+
+The Mexican's lips curled back, revealing two rows of gleaming, white
+teeth.
+
+"I'm glad to hear it. I didn't think you could. We are looking for a
+guide who was to have met us here to conduct us over the mountains.
+His name is Juan. It'll be something else when he does show up. Do you
+know him?"
+
+"Si, senor."
+
+"Isn't he coming to meet us?"
+
+"Si, senor."
+
+"Well, I must say he's taking his time about getting here. Where is
+he?"
+
+"Juan here, senor."
+
+"Here? I don't see him," answered the lad, looking about the place.
+
+"Me Juan," grinned the Mexican. "You?"
+
+"Never mind the senor. I'll take for granted I'm a senor, or whatever
+else you think. Say, fellows, come here," commanded Stacy.
+
+"Well, what's the matter?" demanded Ned, approaching, followed by the
+other boys.
+
+"This is it," announced Stacy, with a wave of his hand toward the
+Mexican.
+
+"What is it?" sniffed Ned.
+
+"This."
+
+"Chunky, what are you getting at?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Perhaps this gentleman will know where we may find our guide,"
+interrupted the Professor, coming up. "Senor, do you know one Juan--"
+
+"Yes, he knows him," grinned Stacy. "He's very well acquainted with
+the gentleman."
+
+"Then where may we find this Juan
+
+"That's Juan--that's your guide," Stacy informed the Professor.
+
+"You--are you the guide?"
+
+"Si, senor."
+
+The Professor opened his eyes in amazement. The burro, on the other
+hand, stood with nose to the ground sound asleep, oblivious to all
+that was taking place about him.
+
+"Why didn't you make yourself known--why haven't you helped us to
+unload?" demanded the Professor in an irritated tone.
+
+"Me no peon. Me guide."
+
+"He's a guide," explained Stacy. "Guides don't work, you know,
+Professor. They are just ornaments. He and the burro are going to pose
+for our amusement."
+
+The boys laughed heartily. Professor Zepplin uttered an exclamation of
+impatience.
+
+"Sir, if you are going with this outfit you will be expected to do
+your share of the labor. There are no drones in our hive."
+
+"No; we all work," interposed Stacy.
+
+"And some of us are eaters," added Ned.
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his pearly teeth.
+
+At the Professor's command, however, Juan stepped off the burro
+without in the least disturbing that animal's dreams and lazily began
+collecting the baggage as directed by the Professor. After the
+equipment had been sorted into piles, the boys did it up into neat
+packs which they skillfully strapped to the backs of the burros of
+their pack train. Juan, lost in contemplation of their labors, forgot
+his own duties until reminded of them by Stacy, who gave the guide a
+violent poke in the ribs with his thumb.
+
+Juan started; then, with a sheepish grin, became busy again.
+
+It was no small task to get their belongings in packs preparatory to
+the journey; but late in the afternoon the boys had completed their
+task. They had had nothing to eat since early morning. But they were
+too anxious to be on their way to wait for dinner in town.
+
+After making some necessary purchases in the village, the procession
+finally started away across the plain.
+
+"You'll never get anywhere with that sleepy burro, Juan," decided the
+Professor, with a shake of the head.
+
+"Him go fast," grinned the Mexican.
+
+"So can a crab on dry land," jeered Ned.
+
+Just then the guide utter a series of shrill "yi-yi's," whereupon the
+lads were treated to an exhibition such as they never had seen before.
+
+The sleepy burro projected his head straight out before him, while his
+tail, raised to a level with his back, stuck straight out behind him.
+The burro, seemingly imbued with sudden life, was off at a pace faster
+than a man could run.
+
+It was most astonishing. The boys gazed in amazement; then burst out
+in a chorus of approving yells.
+
+But it was the rider, even more than the burro, that excited their
+mirth. His long legs were working like those of a jumping jack, and
+though astride of the burro, Juan was walking at a lively pace. It
+reminded one of the way men propelled the old-fashioned velocipedes
+years before.
+
+A cloud of dust rose behind the odd outfit as the party drew out on
+the plains. Their ponies were started at a gallop, which was necessary
+to enable them to keep up with the pace that Juan had set.
+
+"Here! Here!" shouted the Professor.
+
+Juan never looked back.
+
+"We're leaving the pack train. Slow down!"
+
+Laughingly the lads pulled their ponies down to a walk; then halted
+entirely to enable the burros to catch up with them. By this time the
+pack animals had become so familiar with their work that little
+attention was necessary on the part of the boys. Now and then one more
+sleepy than the rest would go to sleep and pause to doze a few minutes
+on the trail. This always necessitated all hands stopping to wait
+until the sleeper could be rounded up and driven up to the bunch.
+
+Juan had disappeared. They were discussing the advisability of sending
+one of the boys out after him when he was seen returning. But at what
+a different gait! His burro was dragging itself along with nose to
+the ground, while Juan himself was slouching on its back half asleep.
+
+"You must have a motor inside that beast," grinned Tad.
+
+"Him go some, senor?"
+
+"Him do," answered Stacy, his solemn eyes taking in the sleepy burro
+wonderingly.
+
+"Better not waste your energy performing," advised the Professor. "We
+shall need what little you have. We will make camp here, as I see
+there is a spring near by. Help the boys unpack the burros."
+
+"Si, senor," answered the guide, standing erect and permitting his
+burro to walk from under him.
+
+With shouts and songs the lads, in great good humor, went to work at
+once, pitching their camp for the first time on the plains of New
+Mexico. There was much to be done, and twilight was upon them before
+they had advanced far enough to begin cooking their evening meal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN THE ZUNI FOOTHILLS
+
+
+A sudden wail from the guide attracted the attention of the party to
+him at once. "Now what's the matter?" demanded Tad, hurrying to him.
+
+The guide had thrown himself prone upon the ground and was groaning as
+if in great agony, offering no reply to the question.
+
+"Are you sick?"
+
+"Si, si, senor," moaned Juan.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Estomago--mucho malo."
+
+"Your stomach?"
+
+"He's got a pain under his apron," diagnosed Stacy solemnly.
+
+"Been working too hard," suggested Ned.
+
+In the meantime the guide was rolling and twisting on the ground,
+glancing appealingly from one to the other of them.
+
+"Professor, hadn't you better fetch your medicine case and dose him
+up?" asked Tad.
+
+"Yes, I'll attend to him."
+
+"Give him a good dose while you are about it," urged Ned. "Something
+that will cure his laziness at the same time."
+
+The Professor brought his case; then, remembering something else in
+his kit that he wanted, he laid the case down and hurried back to his
+tent. However, Stacy opened the case, selecting a bottle, apparently
+at random, drew the cork and held the bottle under Juan's nose.
+
+"Smell of this, my son. It'll cure your estomago on the run."
+
+"Be careful, Chunky, what are you doing there?" warned Tad. "You
+shouldn't fool with the medicines. You--"
+
+His further remarks were cut short by a sudden yell of terror and pain
+from Juan.
+
+The guide leaped to his feet choking, gasping, while the tears ran
+down his cheeks as he danced about as if suddenly bereft of his
+senses.
+
+"Now you've gone and done it," growled Ned. "He never moved so fast in
+his life, I'll wager."
+
+Juan was running in a circle now, shrieking and moaning. Professor
+Zepplin approached them in a series of leaps. He could not imagine
+what new disaster had overtaken the lazy Mexican.
+
+"Here, here, here, what's the trouble now?" He demanded sternly. "Stop
+that howling!"
+
+"Chunky's been prescribing for your patient in your absence," Ned
+informed him.
+
+The Professor grabbed the wild guide by the collar, giving him a
+vigorous shake. When he released his grip, Juan sank to the ground in
+a heap, moaning weakly.
+
+"What's that you say? Stacy prescribed--"
+
+"I--I let him smell of the bottle," explained Stacy guiltily.
+
+"What bottle?"
+
+Stacy slowly picked up the offending bottle and handed it to the
+Professor.
+
+"Ammonia! Boy, you might have put his eyes out! Never let this occur
+again. Remember, you are not to touch the medicines under any
+circumstances whatever!"
+
+"Yes, sir," agreed Chunky meekly, while Ned Rector strolled away,
+shaking with laughter.
+
+"Drink," begged the patient.
+
+"Fetch him some water," directed Professor Zepplin.
+
+"No, no, no, senor," protested Juan, gesticulating protestingly.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Guess he wants something stronger than water," suggested Ned.
+
+"Si, si, si," agreed the guide, showing his white teeth in an
+approving grin.
+
+"You won't get anything stronger than that in this outfit, unless you
+cook yourself some coffee," muttered Tad.
+
+"That's what's the matter with him," decided Chunky, who had been
+observing the sick man keenly.
+
+"Guess we drew a prize when we got Juan," announced Walter.
+
+"Give him some medicine, anyway," urged Ned. "He is sick--let him
+take the dose."
+
+"Let him have the worst you've got in your case, Professor," added
+Tad, with a laugh.
+
+A grim smile played about the corners of Professor Zepplin's mouth as
+he ran his fingers over the bottles in his medicine case. Finally,
+selecting one that seemed to fit the particular ailment of his
+patient, he directed Chunky to fetch a spoon.
+
+By this time Juan was protesting volubly that he was "all better" and
+did not need the medicine. The Professor gave no heed to the fellow's
+protestations.
+
+"Open your mouth," he commanded.
+
+Juan shut his teeth tightly together.
+
+"Open your mouth!" commanded the Professor sternly. "We want no sick
+men about this camp. It will fix you in a minute."
+
+But the guide steadfastly refused to separate the white teeth.
+
+"Boys, open his mouth while I pour the medicine down him," gritted the
+Professor.
+
+They required no urging to do the Professor's bidding. Tad and Ned
+ranged themselves on either side of the patient, while Chunky sat on
+the guide's feet. Almost before he was aware of their purpose the boys
+had pried his jaws open and into the opening thus made professor
+Zepplin dropped the concoction he had mixed.
+
+The effect was electrical. Juan leaped to his feet as if elevated by
+springs, uttering a yell that might have been heard a mile or more on
+the open plain. But Juan did not run in a circle this time. Acting
+upon the mathematical theory that a straight line is the shortest
+distance between two points, the guide made a break for the spring,
+howling like a madman. The Pony Rider Boys looked on in amazement.
+
+Juan fell on his knees before the spring, dipping up the water in his
+hands.
+
+"What did you give him, professor?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Hot drops!" answered the man of science tersely.
+
+"Not that stuff you fed me when I ate too much honey in the Rockies?"
+questioned Stacy.
+
+"The same."
+
+"Wow! I had ten drops and it felt like a pailful when it got inside of
+me."
+
+"How much did you give Juan?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Twenty drops," answered Professor Zepplin without the suspicion of a
+smile on his face this time.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys added their yells to those of the guide, only with
+a difference. The more Juan drank of the spring water, the more did
+the hot drops burn.
+
+All at once he sprang up and started for the plain.
+
+"Catch him!" commanded the Professor.
+
+With a shout the lads started in pursuit. They overhauled the guide
+some twenty rods from camp, he having proved himself fleet of foot.
+Then again, the fire within him perhaps helped to increase his natural
+speed.
+
+"I burn! I burn!" he wailed as the boys grabbed and laughingly hustled
+him back to camp.
+
+"You'll burn worse than that if you ever ask for liquor in this
+outfit," retorted Ned. "We don't use the stuff, nor do we allow anyone
+around us who does."
+
+"How do you feel now?" grinned the Professor as they came up to him
+with their prisoner.
+
+"He's got a whole camp-fire in his little estomago," announced Chunky
+solemnly, which sally elicited a loud laugh from the boys.
+
+"Give him some olive oil," directed the Professor. "I think the lesson
+has been sufficiently burned into him."
+
+But considerable persuasion was necessary to induce Juan to take a
+spoonful of the Professor's medicine. He had already had one sample of
+it and he did not want another. Yet after some urging he tasted of the
+oil, at first gingerly; then he took it down at a gulp.
+
+"Ah!" he breathed.
+
+"Is it good?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Si. Much burn, much burn," he explained, rubbing his stomach.
+
+"Think you want some liquor still, Juan, or would you prefer another
+dose of my magic drops?"
+
+"No, no, no, senor!" cried Juan, hastily moving away from Professor
+Zepplin.
+
+"Very well; any time when you feel a longing for strong drink, just
+help yourself to the hot drops," said the Professor, striding away to
+his tent, medicine case in hand.
+
+The guide, a much chastened man, set about assisting in getting the
+evening meal, but the hot drops still remained with him, making their
+presence known by occasional hot twinges.
+
+Supper that night was an enjoyable affair, though it was observed that
+the guide did not eat heartily.
+
+"Do you think he really had a pain?" asked Walter confidentially,
+leaning toward Ned.
+
+"Pain? No. He wanted something else."
+
+"And he got it," added Stacy, nodding solemnly.
+
+A chorus of "he dids" ran around the table, stopping only when they
+reached Juan himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+INDIANS!
+
+
+"Juan, did you see two men get off the train at Bluewater yesterday
+when we did? One of them had a big, broad sombrero like mine?" asked
+Tad, riding up beside the guide next day while they were crossing the
+range.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Know them?"
+
+"Si," he replied, holding up one finger.
+
+"You mean you know one of them?"
+
+The guide nodded.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Senor Lasar."
+
+"Lasar. What's his other name?"
+
+"Juan not know."
+
+"Did they stop in the village?"
+
+"No. Senors get ponies, ride over mountain," and the guide pointed
+lazily to the south-west.
+
+"Where did they go? Do you know?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he did not.
+
+"What is Mr. Lasar's business?"
+
+Again the guide answered with a shrug. He seemed disinclined to
+discuss the man in whom Tad Butler was so much interested. Up to that
+time the lad had been too fully occupied with other matters to think
+of the conversation he and Stacy had overheard on the Atlantic and
+Pacific train. Now it came back to him with full force.
+
+"Know anybody by the name of Marquand in this country?" he asked,
+taking another tack.
+
+Juan said he did not, and then Tad gave up his questioning.
+
+"I was asking Juan about the two men who sat ahead of us in the train
+yesterday," he explained to Chunky, as the fat boy joined them.
+
+"Wha'd he say?"
+
+"One is named Lasar, but he did not know the other one. I can't help
+believing that those fellows were plotting to do some one a great
+injury."
+
+"So do I," agreed Chunky. "I guess we had better not say anything
+about it to the others, but we'll try to find out who this man Lasar
+is, and who Mr. Marquand is. Then we'll decide what to do next."
+
+Their further conversation was interrupted by the voice of the
+Professor, announcing that they would halt for their noonday meal. All
+other thoughts left the mind of Stacy Brown when the question of food
+was raised. He quickly slipped from his pony, running back to hurry
+the burros along so as to hasten the meal for which he was yearning.
+Only one burro was unpacked, as it was the intention of the outfit to
+push on soon after finishing their lunch.
+
+While the guide, under Ned's direction, was making it ready, Tad and
+Chunky strolled off to climb a high rock that they had seen in the
+vicinity and which, they thought, might give them a good view of the
+plains to the southwest on the other side of the range.
+
+They had promised to be back in half an hour, but circumstances arose
+that caused them to delay their return considerably.
+
+After threshing through the bushes, over sharp rocks and through
+miniature canyons, they gained at last the object of their quest. The
+distance had been further than they had imagined.
+
+"We'll have to make a short trip of it up to the top and back," said
+Tad. "It has taken us almost all our time to get here. But we'll have
+a look, anyway."
+
+They soon gained the top of the rock, which stood some twenty feet
+higher than the crest of the mountain on which it rested.
+
+"Isn't this great?" exclaimed Tad.
+
+"Might think we were in the Rockies."
+
+"Or the Ozarks."
+
+"I hope we don't have as much trouble here as we did in that range.
+Our guide is not much better than the Shawnee we had for a time on
+that trip. I can't see the foothills, but the plain on beyond is
+pretty clear."
+
+"Hope we don't have to chase all over the desert for water. I--"
+
+Tad grasped his companion by the sleeve and jerked him violently to
+the rock.
+
+"What's up? What's the matter with you?" protested Stacy.
+
+"Keep still, some one's coming."
+
+The lad's keen ears had caught a sound which Stacy had entirely failed
+to hear. It was the sound of horses making their way through the
+bushes. There were several in the party, Tad could tell by the sounds,
+and having in mind the man Lasar, he thought he might perhaps learn
+something of advantage by remaining quietly on the top of the rock.
+
+All this he explained in a few brief words to his companion. Then both
+boys crouched low, peering over the cliff, having first removed their
+sombreros.
+
+What they saw, a few moments later, surprised them very much indeed.
+
+The horsemen in single file suddenly appeared out of a draw to the
+east and headed for the rock where the lads were in hiding.
+
+"Look! Look!" exclaimed Tad in a low, suppressed voice.
+
+"I-n-d-i-a-n-s!" breathed Chunky.
+
+They seemed to rise right up out of the ground, as one by one they
+emerged from the draw to the more level rocks that lay about the
+hiding place of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+"I wonder who they are?" questioned Tad.
+
+"They look savage. I wonder if they'd hurt us, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. I do know, though, that I wouldn't trust those ugly
+faces one second. I thought the Blackfeet were savage, but they're not
+to be compared with these redskins."
+
+A full dozen of them had, by this time, come into view. They sat
+huddled on their ponies, their painted faces just appearing above the
+gayly colored blankets in which they were enveloped.
+
+"They must be cold," muttered Chunky. "Shouldn't think they'd need bed
+clothes around them this time of the year."
+
+"Not so loud, Chunky," warned Tad.
+
+"Know what they are, Tad?"
+
+"I wouldn't say positively, but somehow they look to me like Apaches."
+
+Tad's surmise was correct. The twelve warriors were members of the
+savage band that had in past years caused the Government so much
+trouble and bloodshed.
+
+"They're off their reservation, if they are Apaches," whispered the
+lad.
+
+"What does that indicate, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. They may be on the warpath; then, again, they may be
+down here after game. I'm not sure even, if there is any game here.
+We'll lie still until they get by us. That's the best plan; don't you
+think so?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Lie perfectly still, Chunky. The little bushes in front of us will
+screen us, providing we don't move about. Indians have quick eyes,
+though they do look as if they were half asleep."
+
+"They're getting off their horses, Tad. What does that mean?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+Tad peered through the bushes, noting every move that the redskins
+made. At first he thought they had discovered him and were about to
+surround the rock and take him prisoner. But he soon saw that such was
+not their intention. Tethering their ponies, the Indians cast their
+blankets on the ground, after having first picked out a suitable
+place.
+
+"They're making camp," whispered Tad.
+
+One after another of the savages took out his pipe, and soon the odor
+from burning tobacco was wafted to the nostrils of the hidden Pony
+Rider Boys.
+
+"Guess they're going to get some dinner," decided Stacy, observing
+that the strangers were gathering brush.
+
+This was the case. The ponies had been staked where they could browse
+on the green leaves, and now their masters were about to satisfy their
+own appetites.
+
+Tad groaned.
+
+"What is it?" questioned Stacy apprehensively.
+
+"They will be here half of the day at least. I know a little about
+Indians, having been captured by them once. The difference is that my
+Indians were in a hurry to get somewhere. These fellows seem to have
+all the time in the world. They're waiting--killing time for some
+reason. You'll see, after they finish their dinner, that they will
+smoke some more, then lie down for a catnap."
+
+"And--and what'll we be doing?"
+
+"We'll be hiding on the top of this rock, Chunky."
+
+"Wish I had my rifle."
+
+"Lucky for both of us that you haven't."
+
+The lads had been talking in whispers, but the words fairly froze in
+their mouths, when, upon glancing down they saw the eyes of a savage
+fixed upon them.
+
+"On your life, don't move a muscle, Chunky," whispered Tad, as soon as
+he had recovered his wits.
+
+Tad was not sure that the Indian saw them, yet there could be no doubt
+that the savage eyes were burning into their very own.
+
+Soon, however, the Indian dropped his glances to his pipe bowl and the
+boys breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"Don't move yet, Chunky," directed Tad.
+
+It was a wise command, for almost instantly the Indian glanced in
+their direction again, and, as if satisfied, emptied his pipe and
+stretched out on his blanket. The two lads breathed sighs of relief.
+
+"Did he see us, do you think, Tad?"
+
+"No. At first he thought he saw something up here, but he changed his
+mind after a little, as you observed."
+
+By this time the redskins were cooking their midday meal, and the odor
+nearly drove Stacy frantic. It made him realize how hungry he was. He
+pulled a leaf from a bush and began chewing it in hopes of wearing off
+the keen edge of his appetite.
+
+"How long we got to stay here?" he demanded. "I've a good notion to
+get up and walk back to camp. They don't dare hurt us."
+
+"Lie still!" commanded his companion sternly. "I have a plan that we
+may be able to put into operation. We can't do it now, though."
+
+The lads waited, Tad almost with the patience of an Indian, Chunky ill
+at ease and restless.
+
+"Can't you lie still? What ails you?"
+
+"My stomach's fighting my appetite. Hear 'em growl at each other?"
+
+"S-h-h-h."
+
+"I don't care. I'd 'bout as soon be scalped as to starve to death."
+
+The braves had by now filled their stomachs, gulping their food down
+without the formality of chewing it at all. Stacy's amazement was
+partly mixed with admiration as he observed the food disappear with
+such rapidity.
+
+Now the braves had begun puffing at their pipes. After a time, one by
+one laid down his smoking bowl and stretched himself out for a nap,
+just as Tad had said they would. The savages were spread out so that
+they had a very good view of three sides of the rock on which the two
+lads were perched, but the fourth side was hidden from them. Tad
+decided that, as the Indians showed no intention of moving, they were
+going to remain where they were until night.
+
+"I want you to follow me, Chunky," Butler said, determined to try his
+plan. "You will have to move absolutely without a sound. Look before
+you put down foot or hand. Be sure where you place them. We'll wait a
+few minutes until they're sound asleep."
+
+"What you going to do--sneak?"
+
+"Try to get back to camp. The others will be coming along looking for
+us pretty soon, if we don't get away. The Indians might resent being
+disturbed, and perhaps make trouble."
+
+"Tell me when you're ready, then."
+
+Some minutes had elapsed and the lads could plainly hear the snores of
+their besiegers.
+
+"Now!" whispered Tad.
+
+At the same time he began crawling toward the edge of the rock at
+their rear. Stacy was close upon his heels.
+
+The side which the boys were to descend was much more precipitous than
+the one they had come up by, but offered no very great difficulties
+for two nimble boys. Proceeding with infinite caution, they gained the
+ground without a mishap.
+
+"We'll walk straight on in this direction, until we get out of sight;
+then we can turn to the left and hurry to the camp."
+
+Stacy nodded. As he did so his eyes were off the ground for a few
+seconds. Those few seconds proved his undoing.
+
+The lad stepped on a stone that gave way under him, turning his ankle
+almost upon its side.
+
+"Ouch!" yelled Chunky.
+
+"Now you've done it," snapped Tad. "We'll have the whole pack of them
+down on us. Can you walk?"
+
+"I--I don't know. I'll try."
+
+"Take hold of my hand. You've got to run."
+
+The redskins were on their feet in an instant. A few bounds carried
+them around the rock whence the exclamation had come. By this time Tad
+had dragged his companion into the bushes but not quickly enough to
+elude the keen eyes of the savages.
+
+The Indians uttered a short, sharp cry, then aimed their rifles at the
+figures of the two fleeing Pony Rider Boys.
+
+Tad saw the movement. He threw himself prone upon the ground, jerking
+Chunky down beside him.
+
+They were screened from the eyes of the enemy, for the moment.
+
+"Crawl! Crawl!" commanded Tad.
+
+On hands and feet the boys began running rapidly over the ground, on
+down into a narrow gulch. If they could gain the opposite side they
+would be safe, as it was unlikely that the Indians would follow them
+there. To do so, the boys were obliged to cross an open space. They
+had just reached it, when their pursuers appeared behind them. Once
+more the Indians raised their rifles, their fingers exerting a gentle
+pressure on the triggers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ON THE TRAIL OF JUAN
+
+
+"Look out! They're going to shoot!" cried Tad.
+
+The lads quickly rolled in opposite directions.
+
+"Hallo-o, Tad!"
+
+The call was in the stentorian voice of Professor Zepplin, to which
+Ned Rector added a shout of his own.
+
+Fearing that some ill had befallen Tad and Stacy, the others had
+started out after them. Following them came Walter and the lazy
+Mexican.
+
+"We're down here! Look out for the Indians!" warned Tad in a loud
+voice.
+
+"You're crazy!" jeered Ned. "Come out of that. What ails you fellows?
+The dinner's stone cold and Professor Zepplin is all in the stew."
+
+Tad scrambled to his feet, with a quick glance at the top of the
+ridge, where, but a moment before, half a dozen rifles had been
+leveled at Chunky and himself.
+
+Not an Indian was in sight. Tad was amazed. He could not understand
+it. Grabbing Stacy by an arm he hurried him up the other side of the
+gulch, where they quickly joined their companions.
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded the Professor.
+
+"Hurry! We must get out of this. It's Indians!"
+
+"They--they wanted to scalp us," interjected Stacy.
+
+"But you runned away, eh? Brave man!" chuckled Ned.
+
+"Indians! There are no Indians here.
+
+"I'll tell you about it when we get to camp. They were just about to
+shoot at us when you appeared up here."
+
+"'Pache bad Injun," vouchsafed Juan.
+
+"Were those Apaches?" questioned Tad.
+
+The guide shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I was sure they were, though I do not think I ever saw an Apache
+before. They don't live about here, do they, Juan?"
+
+"'Pache off reservation. Him go dance. Firewater! Ugh!" making a
+motion as if scalping himself.
+
+"I'm hungry," called Stacy.
+
+"Yes; so am I," added Tad. "But I think we had better not wait to eat.
+We can take a bite in the saddle while we are moving."
+
+Stacy protested loudly at this, but Tad's judgment prevailed with the
+Professor, after the boys had related their experience in detail. All
+hands began at once to pack up the few belongings that had been taken
+from the burro, and once more they started on their way, moving
+somewhat more rapidly than had been the case in the early part of the
+day.
+
+"I don't suppose there will be much use in our hurrying, Professor,"
+said the lad, after they had been going a short time. "I know enough
+about Indians to be sure those fellows will follow us until they
+satisfy themselves who and what we are. They are up to some mischief,
+and they thought we were spying on them. Otherwise, I do not believe
+they would have tried to shoot us. Don't know as you could blame them
+much."
+
+"I am inclined to agree with you, Master Tad. It will be good policy
+not to pay any attention to them if we discover any of them. Just go
+right along about our business as if we didn't see them at all."
+
+"And you're not likely to," grinned Tad. "Where did you say they were
+going, Juan?"
+
+"'Pache, go dance."
+
+"He means they're bound for a pow-wow somewhere. That explains it,"
+nodded the lad.
+
+The rest of the day passed without incident. Not a sign of the Indians
+did the boys see. As a matter of fact, the roving redskins were as
+anxious to keep out of the sight of the Pony Riders as the boys were
+to have them do so.
+
+The party enjoyed the trip over the mountains immensely; and, when, a
+few days later, they made camp in the foothills on the southern side
+of the Zuni range, the boys declared that they had never had a better
+time.
+
+Professor Zepplin decided that they would remain in that camp for a
+couple of days, as he desired to make some scientific investigations
+and collect geological specimens. This suited the rest of the party,
+who were free to make as many side trips as they wished, into mountain
+fastnesses or over the plains to the south of them.
+
+Early in the day the guide asked permission to go away for an hour or
+so. They noticed that he had been uneasy, apparently anxious to get
+away for some reason unknown to them.
+
+"He's got something up his sleeve," decided Tad, eyeing Juan narrowly.
+
+"You may go, but we shall expect you back in time for the noon meal,"
+the Professor told him.
+
+"Give me money," requested the guide.
+
+"Certainly. Let me see, you have worked a week. I gave you five
+dollars when we started out. You were to have ten dollars a week while
+you were with us. That leaves five dollars due you," announced the
+Professor.
+
+"Me work week. Me want ten dollars."
+
+"But, my man, I've already paid you five dollars, which pays you for
+half of the week. Here is the five dollars for the other half. That's
+all I owe you. Do you understand?"
+
+"Si senor. But Juan work one week," protested the guide.
+
+"Let me show him," interrupted Tad. He drew ten marks in the sand with
+a stick, separating them into two groups of five. "Here are ten marks,
+Juan. We'll call them ten dollars. Understand?"
+
+"Si."
+
+"Well, here are the first five marks in the dirt that the Professor
+paid you. How many does that leave?"
+
+"Five," gleamed the white teeth.
+
+"Right. Go to the head of the class," interrupted Stacy.
+
+"Chunky, you keep out of this. You'll mix him up."
+
+"Guess somebody's mixed up already," retorted the fat boy.
+
+"Five is right," continued Tad. "Five dollars is what we owe you. Is
+that clear now?"
+
+"Si, senor. But I work one week. Juan earn ten dollar--"
+
+"I'll tell you what to do," interjected Ned. "Start all over again.
+You begin work to-day; Juan, and we'll pay you ten dollars for every
+week from now on. You haven't worked for us before to-day, you know."
+
+The lads laughed heartily, but Juan merely showed his teeth,
+protesting that he had earned ten dollars.
+
+"Here," said Tad, thrusting a five dollar bill at him. "You take this.
+It's all we owe you. If you see any of your friends, you ask them how
+much we owe you. They'll tell you the Professor is right."
+
+Juan took the money greedily, still protesting that they owed him ten
+dollars, because he had worked a week. Mounting his burro, he rode
+away; at once falling into the marvelous speed that he had shown them
+on the first day out.
+
+The lads shouted with laughter as they saw burro and rider disappear
+among the foothills, both running for all they were worth, Juan
+uttering his shrill "yi-yi's," as he pedaled the ground.
+
+That was the last they saw of the Mexican guide that day. The rest of
+the day was employed in games, trick riding, rope throwing and the
+like. Stacy found some horned frogs, which were of considerable
+interest to the boys. Chunky made the discovery that the frogs liked
+to have their backs scratched with a stick, and the frogs of the
+foothills probably never spent such a happy day in all their lives as
+Chunky and his stick provided for them that afternoon.
+
+Late in the day, it dawned upon the boys that Juan was still absent.
+They consulted with the Professor about this, upon his return from a
+collecting trip along the foot of the mountains. But the Professor was
+sure Juan would be in in time for supper.
+
+Such was not the case, however. After the meal had been finished Tad
+announced his intention of riding off in the direction Juan had gone,
+to see if the guide could not be found.
+
+"I'll go with you," announced Stacy.
+
+"All right; come along," said Tad, tightening his saddle girths.
+"We'll have a fine gallop."
+
+"Be careful that you do not get lost, boys," warned the Professor.
+
+"Can't get lost. All we have to do is to follow the foothills. We
+shall probably find Juan and his burro sound asleep on an ant-hill
+somewhere. He's positively the laziest human being I ever set eyes
+on."
+
+"Better take along five dollars to bait him with," suggested Ned.
+
+"I've got my stick," said Stacy. "I'll tickle the back of the burro
+and its rider, just as I did the frogs."
+
+"You try that on the burro and he'll kick you into the middle of next
+week," warned Walter.
+
+"Yes," laughed Tad. "Did you see him kick when Juan tossed a tomato
+can against his heels this morning? Kicked the can clear over a tree
+and out of sight."
+
+"He'd make a good batter for the Chillicothe baseball team," suggested
+Chunky. "He'd be the only real batter in the nine. They could turn him
+loose on the umpire when they didn't need him on the diamond. Wouldn't
+it be funny to see some umpires kicked over the high board fence?"
+
+"Come along if you are going with me."
+
+Stacy swung into his saddle, and, galloping off, caught up with Tad,
+who was in a hurry to get back to camp before dark.
+
+"Keep your eyes to the right, Chunky, and I'll look on the left. If
+you see anything that looks like a lazy Mexican and a lazy burro, just
+call out."
+
+"I'll run over them, that's what I'll do," declared the fat boy.
+"Hello, there's a fellow on horseback."
+
+"I see him."
+
+The lads changed their course a little so as to head off the solitary
+horseman, who was loping along in something of a hurry.
+
+"Howdy," greeted the lad.
+
+"Evening, stranger. Where you hail from and where to?"
+
+"We're in camp back here. I'm looking for our guide, a Mexican named
+Juan. He went away this morning and we haven't seen him since."
+
+"And you won't so long as his money holds out," laughed the horseman.
+
+"Then, you've seen him? Will you tell me where I may find him?"
+
+"Sure thing, boy, but I reckon you'd better not be going any further?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"He's over yonder, gambling with some renegade Apaches."
+
+"Apaches!" exclaimed the lads in one voice. "Those must be the same
+fellows we saw up in the range. But how do you suppose he knew they
+were over there?"
+
+"He? Those Greasers know everything except what they ought to
+know--especially if there's any games of chance going on."
+
+"Will you please tell me how we can reach the place? We want to make a
+very early start in the morning, and I don't like to take a chance of
+his not getting back in time."
+
+"If ye're bound to go, keep right along the edge of the foothills. You
+can't miss the place. Better keep away if you don't want to be getting
+into a mix-up. There's going to be lively doings over there pretty
+soon," warned the stranger.
+
+"How do you mean? I've seen Indians before. Guess they won't hurt us
+if they let Juan pow-wow with them."
+
+"This is different, young man. They're going to hold a fire dance
+to-night--"
+
+"A fire dance?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I thought they weren't allowed to do that any more?"
+
+"They ain't, but they will. There's a bunch of Sabobas from over the
+line. They're the original fire eaters. They come over here kind of
+secret like. Then there's Pueblos, 'Paches, and bad ones from every
+tribe within a hundred miles of here. Been making smoke signals from
+the mountains for more'n a week past--"
+
+"I saw that yesterday and thought it was intended as a signal."
+
+"Right."
+
+"But you don't think there will be any danger in just going after our
+guide, do you?"
+
+"Boy, they'll be letting blood before morning, even if the Government
+doesn't drop down on the picnic and clean out the whole bunch of them.
+There is sure to be trouble before morning."
+
+"Thank you," said Tad, touching his pony;
+
+"Going on?" questioned the horseman.
+
+"Yes; I'm going to fetch Juan," replied Tad, touching spurs to his
+pony and galloping away, followed by Stacy Brown.
+
+The horseman sat his saddle watching the receding forms of the two
+Pony Rider Boys until they disappeared behind a butte in the
+foothills.
+
+"Well, if those kids ain't got the sand!" he muttered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A DARING ACT
+
+
+"If you don't want to go with me you may go back, Chunky. Perhaps one
+would not be as likely to get into trouble as two. You can find your
+way, can't you?"
+
+"I go back? Think I'm a tenderfoot? Huh! Guess I ain't afraid of any
+cheap Wild West Indians. I'm going with you, Tad."
+
+"Very well; but see to it that you keep in the background. You have a
+habit of getting into trouble on the slightest provocation."
+
+"So do you," retorted Stacy.
+
+The ponies had been urged to their best pace by this time. Twilight
+had fallen and darkness would settle over them in a very short time
+now, though a new moon hovered pale and weak in the blue sky above.
+Tad knew this, so he did not worry about the return trip.
+
+"We should be sighting the place pretty soon," he muttered.
+
+"I see a light," announced Stacy.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"To the right. Over that low butte there."
+
+"Yes; that's so. I see it now. You have sharp eyes," laughed Tad.
+
+"I can see when there's anything to see."
+
+"And eat when there's food to be had," added Tad.
+
+"Think those are the Indians that wanted to shoot us, Tad?" he asked,
+with a trace of apprehension in his voice.
+
+Tad glanced at his companion keenly;
+
+"Getting cold feet, Chunky?"
+
+"No!" roared the fat boy.
+
+"I beg your pardon," grinned Tad. "I didn't mean to insult you."
+
+"Better not. Look out that you don't get chilblains on your own feet.
+May need a hot mustard bath yourself before you get through."
+
+They rounded the butte. A full quarter of a mile ahead of them
+flickered a large fire, with several smaller blazes twinkling here and
+there about it. Shadowy figures were observed moving back and forth,
+some with rapid movements, others in slow, methodical steps.
+
+"There must be a lot of them, Tad."
+
+"Looks that way. I wonder where we shall find the guide."
+
+Both boys fell silent for a time, and as they drew nearer to the scene
+pulled their ponies down to a walk. Tad concluded to make a detour
+half way round the camp in order to get a clump of bushes that he had
+observed between them and the redskins. From that point of vantage he
+would be able to get a closer view, and perhaps locate the man for
+whom he was looking.
+
+Riding in, they were soon swallowed up in the shadows.
+
+"Hold my pony a moment," directed Tad, slipping to the ground.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Nowhere, just this minute. I'm going to look around."
+
+The lad peered through the bushes until, uttering a low exclamation,
+he turned to his companion.
+
+"I see him. He's over on the other side--"
+
+"Who? Juan?"
+
+"Yes. Now I want you to remain right here. Don't move away. I'll tie
+my pony so he won't give you any trouble. Sit perfectly quiet, and if
+any Indians come along don't bother them. I'm going around the
+outside, so I don't have to pass through the crowd, though they seem
+too busy to notice anyone."
+
+Tad slipped away in the shadows until he came to a spot opposite where
+he had caught a glimpse of the lazy Mexican.
+
+He discovered Juan in the center of a circle of dusky Indians who were
+squatting on the ground. Some of the braves were clothed in
+nondescript garments, while others were attired in gaudy blankets.
+These were the gamblers.
+
+At that moment their efforts were concentrated on winning from Juan
+the wages of his first week's work with the Pony Rider Boys. A blanket
+had been spread over the ground, and on this they were wagering small
+amounts on the throw of the dice, a flickering camp-fire near by dimly
+lighting up the blanket and making the reading of the dice a difficult
+matter for any but the keenest of eyes. The sing-song calls of the
+players added to the weirdness of the scene.
+
+Tad waited long enough to observe that the guide lost nearly every
+time, the stolid-faced red men raking in his coins with painful
+regularity.
+
+"It's a wonder he has a cent left. But they're not playing for very
+large amounts, as near as I can tell."
+
+Each time the Mexican lost he would utter a shrill "si, si," then
+lured by the hope that Dame Fortune would favor him, reached greedily
+for the next throw.
+
+"It's time for me to do something," muttered Tad.
+
+Stepping boldly from his cover, he walked up to the edge of the
+circle.
+
+"Juan!" he called sharply.
+
+"Si," answered the Mexican, without looking up.
+
+"Juan!"
+
+This time the word was uttered in a more commanding voice.
+
+"You come with me!"
+
+The guide, oblivious to all beyond the terrible fascination of the
+game he was playing, gave no heed to Tad Butler's stern command. Three
+times did Tad call to him, but without result. One of the red men cast
+an angry glance in the Tad's direction, and then returned to his play.
+
+Without an instant's hesitation, Tad sprang over into the center of
+the circle, and grasping Juan by an ear, jerked him to his feet.
+
+Red hands fell to belts and dark faces scowled menacingly at the
+intruder.
+
+"You come with me, Juan!"
+
+Juan sought to jerk away, but under the strong pull on his ear, he did
+not find it advisable to force himself from his captor's grip.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You're lucky if Professor
+Zepplin doesn't give you another dose of hot drops for this. I suppose
+these Indians sat down to rob you," growled Tad.
+
+"No, no, no," protested Juan.
+
+By this time the Indian gamblers had leaped to their feet, an ugly
+light in their eyes that boded ill for the Pony Rider Boy who had
+interrupted them in the process of fleecing the Mexican.
+
+With one accord they barred the way in a solid human wall. Tad found
+himself hemmed in on all sides. It had been easy to gain an entrance
+to the circle, but getting out of it was another matter.
+
+"This man belongs to me," he said with as much courage in his tone as
+he was able to command. "You will please step aside and let us go.
+You're breaking the law. If you offer any resistance I'll have the
+government officers after you in short order."
+
+He could not have said a worse thing under the circumstances. At first
+they took him for a spy, possibly a Government spy. Now they were sure
+of it, for had not the lad told them so himself?
+
+With a growl, one who appeared to be the most important personage in
+the group drew his sheath knife and sprang straight at the slender
+figure of Tad Butler.
+
+Tad acted without an instant's hesitation.
+
+Stepping aside quickly; he cleverly avoided the knife-thrust. At the
+same instant, while the Indian was off his balance, not yet having
+recovered from the lunge, the Pony Rider Boy's fist and the Indian's
+jaw met in sudden collision.
+
+The impact of the blow might have been heard more than a rod away.
+
+The red man's blanket dropped from his shoulders; he staggered
+backward, made a supreme effort to pull himself together, then dropped
+in a heap at the feet of the boy who had felled him.
+
+Without waiting for the astonished red gamblers to recover their wits,
+Tad grasped an arm of the Mexican and sprang away into the bushes.
+
+He had done a serious thing, even though in self-protection. He had
+knocked down an Apache brave with his fist. The sting of that blow
+would rest upon the savage jaw until the insult was wiped out by the
+victim himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE FIRE DANCE OF THE RED MEN
+
+
+The Indians made a sudden move to pursue the lad who had done so
+daring a thing. One of their number restrained them, pointing to the
+fallen brave, as much as to say, "Revenge is for him!"
+
+With a shrug of their shoulders the Indians sank down and resumed
+their game as stoically as before. They gave no further heed to the
+unconscious Apache, who still lay just outside the circle where he had
+been knocked out by Tad's blow.
+
+"Hurry! Hurry!" commanded the lad, fairly dragging his companion
+along. "They'll be after us in a minute."
+
+Yet before the minute had elapsed Tad had halted suddenly, his
+wondering eyes fixed upon the scene that was being enacted before him.
+
+About a pit of red hot coals, naked save for the breech clouts they
+wore, swayed the bodies of half-a-dozen powerful braves.
+
+They were the fire dancers and Tad was gazing upon a scene that
+probably never will be seen again in this country--the last of the
+fire dances--a secret dance of which it was to be supposed the
+Government agents knew nothing.
+
+Back and forth waved the copper-colored line, right up to the edge of
+the pit of glowing coals, uttering a weird chant, which was taken up
+by others who were not in the dance.
+
+The voices of the chanters grew louder, their excitement waxed higher,
+as the thrill of song and dance pulsed through their veins.
+
+All at once, Tad was horrified to see one of the dancers leap into the
+air, uttering a mighty shriek. While still clear of the ground the
+dancer's body turned, then he dove head first into the bed of hot
+coals. He was out in an instant.
+
+The chant rose higher as the remaining dancers followed the leader
+into the burning pit and out of it. So quickly did they move that they
+seemed not to feel the heat, and from Tad's point of vantage, he was
+sure that none was burned in the slightest.
+
+Juan tried to pull away. But Tad held him in a firm grip.
+
+Now that the dancers had passed through the fire unscathed, others
+followed them, some no more than touching the live coals, then
+bounding out on the other side of the pit; others remaining long
+enough to roll swiftly across the glowing bed.
+
+Excitement was rapidly waxing higher and higher. The red men were in a
+dangerous mood. It boded ill for the paleface who sought to interfere
+with their carnival at this moment.
+
+"Come!" whispered Tad in a low, tense voice. "We've got to get out of
+this mighty quick! Chunky's probably half scared to death, too."
+
+Tad did not go far. He had scarcely taken half a dozen steps when a
+frenzied yell, a series of shrill shrieks sounded in the air. The
+sounds seemed to come from all directions at once.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Me not know."
+
+"Somebody's running a pony. I hear it coming. It's headed right for
+that bunch of crazy savages. Probably an Indian gone mad."
+
+It was not an Indian who was the cause of this new disturbance, as the
+lad discovered almost immediately afterward.
+
+"Yip, yip! Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!"
+
+The yells were uttered in the shrill voice of Stacy Brown.
+
+"It's Chunky!" groaned Tad. "Here's trouble in earnest!"
+
+They never knew just how it happened, and Chunky could not tell them,
+but in all probability the excitement had been too much for the fat
+boy!
+
+He had moved closer when the dancing began, and the fever of it got
+into his veins until his excitement had reached a pitch beyond his
+control.
+
+With a series of howls and yells, the fat boy drove the rowels of the
+spurs deep into his pony's aides.
+
+The animal dashed forward at a break-neck pace.
+
+Stacy headed straight for the glowing pit, yelling with every leap of
+the pony.
+
+Tad gazed spellbound. He seemed powerless to move. He had been deeply
+affected by the scenes he had seen; but this was different. The lad
+held his breath.
+
+Reaching the edge of the pit, Stacy's pony rose in the air, clearing
+the bed of coals in a long, curving leap.
+
+Two red men had just risen from their fiery bath. The hind hoofs of
+the pony caught and bowled them over.
+
+"Run to the camp and get help! Take my pony! Ride for your life! Don't
+lose a second!" gasped Tad, giving the lazy Mexican a shove that sent
+him stumbling until he had measured his length upon the ground.
+
+Juan picked himself up slowly; and, crawling away into the bushes, lay
+down to rest or hide.
+
+Stacy's pony landed fairly in the center of a bunch of half-clothed
+savages; some of whom went down under the pony when it landed on them
+so unexpectedly.
+
+The next instant the fat boy had been jerked from the animal's back,
+to which he was clinging desperately.
+
+With a yell the redskins hurled him toward the fire. But the force of
+the throw had not been quite strong enough. Stacy landed on the edge
+of the pit, rolling half into it, the upper part of his body being on
+the ground to which he was hanging, yelling lustily. His shod feet
+were in the fire, however, but as yet he did not realize that his
+clothes were burning.
+
+Tad Butler sprang quickly from his hiding place.
+
+"Crawl out!" he roared. "You'll be burned alive!"
+
+"I--I can't. I fell in," piped Stacy, all his bravery gone now.
+
+Tad leaped across the intervening space and bounded to the side of his
+companion.
+
+"Ouch! I'm on fire!" shrieked Stacy.
+
+Tad grabbed and hauled him from his dangerous position. One of Tad's
+feet slipped in while he was doing so. By this time the clothes of
+both lads had begun to smoulder.
+
+"Run for it! Better be burned than scalped!" shouted Tad.
+
+Holding to Chunky's arm the Pony Rider Boy started to run. He was
+tripped by a moccasined foot before they had gone ten feet. Both boys
+fell headlong. Ere they could rise half a dozen mad savages were upon
+them.
+
+The lads were jerked roughly to their feet, Chunky shivering, Tad pale
+but resolute. There was nothing that he could say or do to repair the
+damage that his companion had done.
+
+One whom the lad took to be a chief, from his head-dress and
+commanding appearance, pushed his way into the crowd about the two
+boys, hurling the red men aside with reckless sweeps of his powerful
+arms.
+
+"Ugh!" he grunted, folding his arms and gazing sternly at the two
+prisoners.
+
+"Who you?"
+
+Tad explained as best he could.
+
+"Why you do this?"
+
+"My friend here got excited," Tad declared.
+
+"Huh! Lie!"
+
+Tad's face burned. He could scarcely resist the impulse to resent the
+imputation that the savage had cast upon him. He conquered the
+inclination with an effort.
+
+"Sir, we had no wish to interfere with you. We came here to get one of
+our men who had come here to gamble. If you will release us we will
+return to our camp and give you no further trouble. I promise you
+that."
+
+"T-h-h-h-at's so," chattered Chunky.
+
+"Keep still," whispered Tad. "You'll get us into more trouble."
+
+The chief appeared to be debating the question in his own mind, when
+one of the men, whom Tad recognized as a member of the gambling
+circle, whispered something to the chief.
+
+The chief's eyes blazed. Uttering a succession of gutteral sounds, he
+gave some quick directions to the red men near him.
+
+"He makes a noise like a litter of pigs," muttered Chunky.
+
+Acting upon the chief's direction two braves grabbed the lads, and
+hurried them away, Tad meanwhile watching for an opportunity to break
+away. Had he been alone, he felt sure he could do so safely. But he
+would not leave his companion, of course.
+
+The Apaches took the boys a short distance from the camp, planked them
+down roughly with their backs to a rock.
+
+"Now, I wonder what next?" muttered Tad.
+
+While one of the braves stood guard over them, the second trotted back
+to the camp, returning after a few minutes with a third savage who
+carried a rifle.
+
+The boys were sure then that they were to be shot.
+
+"Huh! You run, brave shoot um!" warned one of the first pair, after
+which parting injunction the two captors strode away, leaving their
+companion to guard the boys.
+
+For a few moments the Indian walked up and down in front of them,
+keeping his eyes fixed on the lads. Tad noted that he walked rather
+unsteadily. Finally, the guard sat down facing them, some ten feet
+away.
+
+"Well, you've certainly gone and done it this time, Chunky," said Tad
+in a low voice. "What on earth made you do a crazy thing like that?"
+
+"I--I don't know."
+
+"Well, it's too late for regrets. All we can do will be to make the
+best of our situation and watch for an opportunity to get away."
+
+For several minutes the boys sat gazing at the stolid figure before
+them. Tad's mind was working, though his body was not.
+
+"Make believe you're going to sleep, but don't overdo it," whispered
+Tad.
+
+This was something that Stacy could do, and he did it with such
+naturalness that Tad could not repress a smile.
+
+"That Indian is dazed from his excitement, and if we make him think
+we're asleep he's likely to relax his vigilance," mused Tad, as the
+two boys gradually leaned closer together, soon to all appearances
+being wrapped in sleep. Little by little the Indian's head nodded.
+
+Finally he toppled over to one side, the rifle lying across his feet.
+
+Tad and Chunky remained motionless.
+
+The Indian snored.
+
+The boys waited. Soon the snores became regular. The moment for action
+had arrived.
+
+Tad pinched Chunky.
+
+"Huh! Wat'cher want?"
+
+The fat boy had in reality been asleep.
+
+"For goodness sake, keep quiet!" begged Tad in a whisper. "Don't you
+know there's an Indian with a gun guarding us? He's asleep. Come, but
+be quiet if you value your life at all. Anyway; remember that I want
+to save mine."
+
+Stacy was wide awake now. Together the lads crawled cautiously away,
+every nerve on the alert. Over by the pit of live coals the uproar
+was, if any thing, louder than before.
+
+The boys gave that part of the camp a wide berth.
+
+"Now get up and run!" commanded Tad. "Raise your feet off the ground,
+so that you won't fall over every pebble you come to."
+
+Tad and Chunky clasped hands and scurried through the bushes, making
+as little noise as possible, and rapidly putting considerable distance
+between them and the sleeping red man who had been set to watch them.
+
+"Having lots of fun, ain't we, Tad?"
+
+"Fun! You're lucky if you get off with a whole scalp--"
+
+"Wow!" exclaimed Stacy.
+
+The lads brought up suddenly.
+
+At first they were not sure what had disturbed them, that is, Tad was
+not. This time Stacy had seen more clearly than his companion.
+
+"Ugh!" grunted a voice right in front of them, and there before their
+amazed eyes stood an Indian. To their imaginations, he was magnified
+until he appeared nearly as tall as the moonlit mountains in the
+background.
+
+For one hesitating instant the lads stood staring at the figure
+looming over them.
+
+With an angry growl the red man bounded toward them. He had recognized
+the boys and was determined that they should not escape him.
+
+It was Stacy Brown's wits that saved the situation this time. As the
+Indian came at them the fat boy dived between the savage's naked legs,
+uttering a short, sharp yelp, for all the world just like that of a
+small dog attempting to frighten off a bigger antagonist.
+
+There could be only one result following Chunky's unexpected tactics.
+Mr. Redskin flattened himself on the ground prone upon his face.
+Somehow the fellow was slightly stunned by the fall, not having had
+time to save himself from a violent bump on the head.
+
+"Run for it, Chunky! He'll be after us in a second."
+
+The lads made a lively sprint for the open. In a moment, observing
+that they were not being followed, they halted, still in the shadows
+of the bushes. All at once Tad stumbled over an object in the dark. At
+first he thought it was another Indian, and both boys were about to
+run again, when the voice of the prostrate man caused them to laugh
+instead.
+
+"Si, si, senor," muttered the fellow.
+
+"Juan? It's Juan! Get up! You here yet?"
+
+They pulled the lazy guide to his feet, starting off with him, when
+all at once Tad happened to think that one of the ponies was back
+there somewhere among the Indians.
+
+"You stay here, and don't make a fool of yourself this time!"
+commanded Tad.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"After your pony. You hang on to Juan. I'll hold you responsible for
+him, Chunky."
+
+"Guess I can take care of a lazy Mexican if I can floor a redskin,"
+answered Stacy proudly.
+
+But Tad was off. He had not heard the last remark of his companion. In
+picking his way carefully around the camp to where he had seen a lot
+of ponies tethered, Tad found a Navajo blanket. He quickly possessed
+himself of it, throwing it over his head, wrapping himself in its
+folds.
+
+He was now in plain sight of the wild antics of the dancers, who,
+still mad with the excitement of the hour, were performing all manner
+of weird movements. For a moment, the lad squatted down to watch them.
+He had been there but a short time when a voice at his side startled
+him, and Tad was about to take a fresh sprint when he realized that it
+was not the voice of a savage.
+
+"Young man, you'd better light out of here while you've got the
+chance," said the stranger.
+
+Turning sharply, Tad discovered a man, who, like himself, was wrapped
+in a gaudy blanket. He was unable to see the man's face, which was
+hidden under the Navajo.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded the lad sharply.
+
+"I'm an Indian agent. I only got wind of this proposed fire dance late
+this afternoon. These men will all be punished unless they return to
+their reservations peaceably. If they do, they will be let go with a
+warning."
+
+"Do they know you're here?"
+
+"They? Not much," laughed the agent.
+
+"But supposing they ask you a question?"
+
+"I can talk all the different tribal languages represented here. You'd
+better go now. Where are you from?"
+
+Tad explained briefly.
+
+"Well, you have had a narrow escape tonight. If they catch you again
+they'll make short work of you."
+
+"They won't catch me. Thank you and good-bye."
+
+"Don't go that way. Strike straight back; then you will have an open
+course."
+
+"I'm going after my companion's pony. I think I know where to find
+it," answered Tad, wrapping the blanket about himself and stealing
+across an open moonlit space without attracting attention.
+
+The Indian agent watched him curiously for a moment; then he rose and
+followed quickly after Tad.
+
+"That boy is either a fool--which I don't think--or else he doesn't
+know the meaning of the word 'fear.'"
+
+Tad did not find Stacy's pony where he had expected. Indian ponies
+were tethered all about, singly and in groups, while here and there
+one was left to graze where it would.
+
+"What sort of a looking pony is yours?" questioned the agent, coming
+up to him.
+
+"A roan."
+
+"Then I think I know where he is. He was not like the horses in this
+vicinity, which attracted my attention to him."
+
+The agent led the way, in a roundabout course, to the south side of
+the camp, where they began looking over the animals. Occasionally a
+redskin would pass them, but no one gave either the slightest heed.
+
+"Here he is," whispered Tad.
+
+"Lead him off. Don't mount just yet."
+
+Tad did as the agent had suggested. But all at once something
+happened. Tad's blanket had dropped from his shoulders, revealing him
+in his true colors. An Indian uttered a yell. Tad sprang into his
+saddle and put spurs to the pony. In a moment more than a dozen
+redskins had mounted and started yelling after him, believing he was
+stealing a pony.
+
+Tad headed away to the south to give his companions a chance to get
+out of the way, and the savages came in full cry after him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FLEEING FROM THE ENEMY
+
+
+A shrill cry was wafted to the boy.
+
+After a few moments Tad realized that they were no longer on his
+trail. He knew the cry had been a signal, warning them to halt. What
+he did not know, however, was that the Indian agent had been
+responsible for the signal; that he in all probability had saved the
+boy's life.
+
+The lad, after satisfying himself that the Indians had abandoned the
+chase, at once circled about, coming back to the point where he had
+left Chunky and the Mexican. They were both there waiting for him.
+
+"What was all that row?" demanded the fat boy. "We were having a
+little horse race, that's all," grinned Tad grimly; "Hurry along,
+now."
+
+They reached their own camp in safety an hour later. The two boys had
+much to relate, and as the narration proceeded, Professor Zepplin
+shook his head disapprovingly.
+
+"Young gentlemen, much as I have enjoyed this summer's outing, it's a
+wonder I haven't had nervous prostration long before this. It'll be a
+load off my mind if I get you all back in Chillicothe without anything
+serious happening to you."
+
+"I think," suggested Tad, "that we had better strike camp at once and
+move on. The moon is shining brightly, and Juan ought to have no
+trouble in leading the way."
+
+"Yes; that will be an excellent idea. You think they may give as
+further trouble?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"They may before morning. They're getting more ugly every minute."
+
+"Everything worth while seems to happen when I am not around,"
+protested Ned.
+
+"Good thing you weren't along," replied Stacy. "You'd been scared
+stiff. It was no place for tenderfeet."
+
+"You--you call me a tenderfoot?" snapped Ned, starting for him.
+
+"Stop quarreling, you two!" commanded Tad. "We've had all the fighting
+we want for one night. Get busy and help strike this camp. Guess none
+of this outfit could truthfully be called a tenderfoot. We've all had
+our share of hard knocks, and we'll have enough to look back to and
+think about when we get home and have time to go over our experiences
+together this winter."
+
+The thought, that at any minute the half-crazed savages might sweep
+down on them hastened the preparations for departure. The Pony Rider
+Boys never struck camp more quickly than they did in the soft southern
+moonlight that night.
+
+All at once Juan set up a wail.
+
+"What is it--what's the trouble now?" demanded Tad.
+
+"My burro. I go for him."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort. You'll walk, or ride a pack animal,"
+answered Stacy. "You don't deserve to have a burro."
+
+"Here's his old burro now," called Walter, as a shambling object, much
+the worse for wear, came stumbling sleepily into camp.
+
+The boys set up a shout that was quickly checked by Tad.
+
+"If the burro can find the way what do you think an Indian could do,
+fellows?"
+
+"That's right," agreed Professor Zepplin. "We had better keep quiet--"
+
+"And hit the trail as fast as possible," added Tad. "Daylight must
+find us a long ways from here."
+
+"And ride all night--is that what you mean?" complained Stacy.
+
+"Yes; it'll give you an appetite for breakfast."
+
+"I've got one already."
+
+"That goes without saying," agreed Ned.
+
+"Come, come, Juan!" urged Tad, observing that the guide was doing
+nothing more in the way of work than rubbing the nose of his prodigal
+burro. "Aren't you going to help us?"
+
+"Yes; what do you think we're paying you good American dollars for?"
+demanded Ned.
+
+"I think some of the Professor's hot drops would be good for what ails
+him," observed Stacy Brown. "I'll get the Professor to give him a dose
+right now."
+
+"No, no, no! Juan no want fire drops."
+
+"All right; get busy, then."
+
+He did. Not since the last dose of the Professor's medicine had he
+shown such activity. Very soon after that the camp had been struck and
+the party was ready to take up its journey.
+
+Tad took a last look about, to make sure that nothing had been left.
+
+"I think I'll put out the fire," he said, tossing the bridle reins to
+Stacy, while he ran over to the dying camp-fire, whose embers he
+kicked apart, stamping them out one by one. "No use leaving a trail
+like that for any prowling redskin."
+
+They were quickly under way after that, Juan leading the way without
+the least hesitancy. He and the burro worked together like a piece of
+automatic machinery.
+
+"He might better walk and lead the burro," said Stacy, who had been
+observing their peculiar method of locomotion. "Should think it would
+be easier."
+
+The moon was dropping slowly westward, and the party was using it for
+a guide, keeping the silver ball sharply to their right. Juan on the
+other hand had hitched his lazy chariot to a star.
+
+By this star he was laying his course to the southward. The Pony Rider
+Boys enjoyed their moonlight trip immensely; and a gentle breeze from
+the desert drifting over them relieved the scorching heat of the late
+afternoon and early evening.
+
+"Guess the Indians are not going to bother us," said Walter, riding up
+to Tad just before daylight.
+
+"Probably not. They will be in too much trouble with the Government,
+after last night's performances, to give much thought to chasing us.
+And besides, I don't see why they should wish to do so. Had they been
+very anxious to be revenged on us, most likely they would not have
+allowed us to get away as they did."
+
+"Was it very terrible, Tad?" asked Walter Perkins.
+
+"What, the dance, or what happened afterwards?" laughed the lad.
+
+"Both?"
+
+"Well, I'm free to confess that neither was exactly pleasant. When
+they caught Chunky I thought it was all up with us. Hello. There's Mr.
+Daylight."
+
+Glancing to the left the boys saw the sky turning to gray. A buzzard
+screamed overhead, laying its course for the mountains where it was
+journeying in search of food.
+
+"What's that?" demanded Stacy, awakening from a doze in his saddle.
+
+"Friend of yours with an appetite," grinned Ned.
+
+"I thought it sounded like breakfast call," muttered Stacy, relapsing
+into sleep again, his head drooping forward until, a few minutes
+later, he was lying over the saddle pommel with arms thrown loosely
+about the pony's neck.
+
+Ned, observing the lad's position, suddenly conceived a mischievous
+plan. Unnoticed by the others, he permitted his own pony to fall back
+until he was a short distance behind Stacy. The others were a little
+way ahead.
+
+Ned rode slowly alongside his companion, as he passed, bringing the
+rowel of his spur sharply against the withers of Chunky's mount.
+
+The effect was instantaneous.
+
+The fat boy's mount, itself half asleep, suddenly humped its back, and
+with bunching feet leaped clear of the ground.
+
+"Hello, what's the matter back there?" called Ned, who by this time
+was a full rod in advance of his companion.
+
+Stacy did not answer. He was at that moment turning an undignified
+somersault in the air, his pony standing meekly, awaiting the next act
+in the little drama.
+
+The fat boy landed on the plain in a heap.
+
+"Are you hurt, Chunky?" cried Tad anxiously, slipping from his saddle
+and running to his companion.
+
+"I--I dunno, I--I fell off, didn't I?"
+
+"You're off, at least," grinned Ned. "What was the matter?"
+
+"I--I dunno; do you?"
+
+"How should I know? If you will go to sleep an a bucking broncho, you
+must expect things to happen."
+
+Stacy, by this time, had scrambled to his feet; after which, he began
+a careful inventory of himself to make sure that he was all there. He
+grinned sheepishly.
+
+Satisfying himself on this point, Stacy shrugged his shoulders and
+walked over to his pony with a suggestion of a limp.
+
+"Now that we have halted we might as well make camp for a few hours,
+get breakfast and take a nap," suggested the Professor.
+
+The boys welcomed this proposition gratefully, for they were beginning
+to feel the effects of their long night ride, added to which, two of
+them had had a series of trying experiences before starting out.
+
+In the meantime, Stacy Brown had been examining his pony with more
+than usual care.
+
+Tad observed his action, and wondered at it. A moment later, the fat
+boy having moved away; Tad thought he would take a look at the animal.
+He was curious to know what Stacy had in mind.
+
+"So that's it, is it?" muttered Tad.
+
+He found the mark of a spur on the pony's withers. While it had not
+punctured the skin, the spur had raked the coat, showing that the
+rowel had been applied with considerable force.
+
+Tad, with a covert glance about, saw Ned Rector watching him.
+
+"You're the guilty one, eh?" he demanded, walking up to Ned.
+
+"S-h-h-h," cautioned Ned. "He'll be redheaded if he knows I am to
+blame for his coming a cropper."
+
+"Chunky's not so slow as you might think. But that wasn't a nice thing
+to do. It's all right to play tricks, but I hope you won't be so cruel
+as to use a spur on a dumb animal, the way you did, even if he is an
+ill-tempered broncho. You might have broken Chunky's neck, too."
+
+Ned's face flushed.
+
+"It was a mean trick, I'll admit. Didn't strike me so at the time.
+Shall I ask Chunky's pardon?"
+
+"Do as you think best. I should, were I in your place."
+
+"Then, I will after breakfast."
+
+Ned got busy at once, assisting to cook the morning meal, while Juan
+led the ponies out to a patch of grass and staked them down. While the
+Pony Rider cook was thus engaged, he felt a tug at his coat sleeve.
+
+Turning sharply, Ned found Stacy at his side. Stacy's face was flushed
+and his eyes were snapping.
+
+"What is it, Chunky?"
+
+"Come over here, I want to talk with you."
+
+They stepped off a few paces out of hearing of the others, Tad smiling
+to himself as he observed Stacy's act.
+
+"Well, what's the matter, Chunky?"
+
+"I can lick you, Ned Rector!"
+
+"Wha--what?"
+
+"Said I could lick you. Didn't say I was going to, understand. Just
+said I could--"
+
+"Like to see you try it."
+
+"All right; it's a go."
+
+Ere Ned could recover from his surprise, Stacy Brown had launched
+himself upon his companion. One of Stacy's arms went about Ned's neck,
+one foot kicked a leg from under Ned, and the two lads went down in
+the dust together.
+
+It had happened in a twinkling.
+
+"Here, here! What's going on over there?" shouted the Professor,
+starting on a run, while the other lads were laughing.
+
+Chunky was sitting on the chest of his fallen adversary, Ned
+struggling desperately to throw the lad off.
+
+"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" crowed Chunky, in imitation of a rooster,
+flapping his hands on his thighs, in great good humor with himself.
+
+Professor Zepplin grabbed him by the collar, jerking Stacy Brown from
+the fallen Pony Rider Boy.
+
+Ned scrambled to his feet, and, with a sheepish grin on his face,
+proceeded to brush the dust from his clothes.
+
+"Downed you, did he?" questioned Tad.
+
+"It wasn't fair. I didn't know he was going to try."
+
+"Neither did the Russians when the Japs sailed into them at Port
+Arthur," laughed Walter. "And they got what was coming to them."
+
+"So did I. Chunky, I deserve more than you gave me. If you want to,
+beat me up some more."
+
+"Now, isn't that sweet of him?" chortled Stacy. "I fell off my pony,
+then I fell on you, and we'll call it quits, eh, Ned?"
+
+Ned put out a hand, which Stacy grasped with mock enthusiasm.
+
+"We sure will."
+
+"I'd like to know what this is all about?" questioned Walter.
+"Something's been going on."
+
+"I made his pony throw him over," admitted Ned.
+
+Stacy nodded with emphasis.
+
+"He found it out and jumped on me."
+
+"I'll turn you both over my knee if you try to repeat these
+performances," warned the Professor.
+
+Linking arms, Stacy and Ned started for the breakfast table, humming,
+
+"For he's a jolly good fellow,"
+
+and a moment later all four of the lads were standing about the
+breakfast table, singing the chorus at the top of their voices.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+ASLEEP ON THE SLEEPY GRASS
+
+
+The slanting rays of the sun got into the eyes of the Pony Rider Boys.
+Four arms were thrown over as many pairs of eyes to shut out the
+blinding light.
+
+"Ho-ho-hum!" yawned Chunky.
+
+Cocking an impish eye at his companions, he observed that each had
+fallen into a deep sleep again.
+
+The fat boy cautiously gathered up a handful of dry sand and hurled it
+into the air. A shower of it sprinkled over them, into their eyes and
+half-opened mouths.
+
+Three pairs of eyes were opened, then closed again.
+
+Encouraged by his success, Stacy chuckled softly to himself, then
+dumped another handful of sand over his companions.
+
+But he was not prepared for what followed.
+
+Three muscular boys hurled themselves upon him. Instantly the peaceful
+scene was changed into a pandemonium of yells. Down came the tent
+poles, the canvas rising and falling as if imbued with sudden life.
+
+Professor Zepplin, startled by the racket, roused himself and sprang
+from his own tent. Observing the erratic actions of the tent in which
+the boys had been sleeping, he instantly concluded that something
+serious had happened.
+
+"Boys! boys!" he cried, running to the spot, frantically hauling away
+the canvas. "What has happened? What has happened?"
+
+They were too busy to answer him. When finally he had uncovered what
+lay below, he found his charges literally tied up in a knot, rolling
+and tumbling, with Stacy Brown lying flat on his back, each of his
+three companions vigorously rubbing handfuls of sand over his face,
+down his neck and in the hair of his head.
+
+"I think I'll take a hand in this myself," smiled the Professor. He
+ran to his tent, returning quickly. In his hands he carried two pails
+of water.
+
+Unluckily for the boys, they had failed to observe what he was doing.
+Nor did they understand that they were in danger until the contents of
+the two pails had been dashed over them.
+
+There were yells in earnest this time. The water turned the dirt into
+mud at once, and their faces were "sights." Stacy's face had been
+protected, in a measure, by the other boys who were bending over him
+rubbing in the sand.
+
+The unexpected bath put a sudden end to their sport, and they
+staggered out shouting for vengeance. They did not even know who had
+been the cause of their undoing.
+
+The Professor, as he walked away smiling, had handed the pails to the
+grinning Juan with instructions to refill them.
+
+The unfortunate Juan, bearing the pails away, was the first person to
+catch the eyes of the lads, as they rubbed the sticky mud out of them.
+
+With a howl they projected themselves upon him. Juan's grin changed
+instantly to an expression of great concern. He went down under their
+charge, with four boys, instead of three, on top of him.
+
+"Duck him!" shouted some one.
+
+"Yes! Douse him in the spring!" chorused the boys.
+
+Juan cried out for the Professor, but his appeals were in vain.
+
+Shouting in high glee the lads bore him to the spring from which they
+got their water. They plumped him in, not any too gently, again and
+again.
+
+"Now roll him in the sand," suggested Ned.
+
+They did so.
+
+The wet clothing and body made the sand stick to him until the lazy
+Mexican was scarcely recognizable.
+
+At this point Professor Zepplin took a hand. He came bounding to the
+scene and began throwing the boys roughly from their unhappy victim.
+Perhaps he was not greatly disturbed over the shaking up the guide had
+sustained, but of course he confided nothing of this to the boys.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves--for four of you to pitch on
+to one weak Mexican! I'm surprised, young gentlemen."
+
+"But--but--he ducked us," protested Ned.
+
+"He did nothing of the sort."
+
+"What--didn't duck us? Guess I know water when I feel it," objected
+Walter.
+
+"You were ducked, all right, but it is I, not Juan, who am responsible
+for that."
+
+"You?" questioned the lads all at once.
+
+The Professor nodded, a broad grin on his face.
+
+"But he had the pails."
+
+"I gave them to him, after pouring the water over you. That's what is
+known as circumstantial evidence, young gentlemen. Let it be a lesson
+to you to be careful how you convict anyone on that kind of evidence."
+
+"Fellows," glowed Chunky, "we've made a mistake. Let's make it right
+by ducking the Professor."
+
+The boys looked over Professor Zepplin critically.
+
+"I guess we'd better defer that job till we grow some more," they
+decided, with a laugh.
+
+The next fifteen minutes were fully occupied in cleaning up and
+putting on their clothes. They were all thoroughly awake now, with
+cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling after their violent exercise. The
+guide had rather sullenly washed off the wet dust that clung to his
+face and hands.
+
+"Never mind the clothes, Juan," advised Ned. "It'll brush off as soon
+as it gets dry. We'll take up a contribution to buy you a clothes
+brush. Ever see one?"
+
+Juan grinned.
+
+"You promise not to gamble the money away if we give it to you?"
+
+"Si."
+
+"Shell out, fellows. Ten cents apiece. That ought to salve his injured
+feelings."
+
+Ned passed the hat, all contributing.
+
+"That makes forty cents. Here, Professor, you haven't put in your ten
+yet. It'll take just fifty cents to paste up Juan's injuries."
+
+"That reminds me of a fellow I heard about once," announced Stacy.
+
+"Are you going to tell a story?" questioned Ned.
+
+"If you will keep still long enough," replied Stacy.
+
+"Then me for the bunch grass. It's like going to a funeral to hear
+Chunky try to tell a story."
+
+"Let him tell it," shouted the lads.
+
+"Go on, Chunky. Never mind Ned. He'll laugh when he gets back to
+Chillicothe," jibed Walter.
+
+"I heard of a fellow once--"
+
+"Yes; you told us that before," jeered Ned.
+
+"Not the one we ducked in the spring, was it?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Who's telling this story?" demanded Stacy belligerently.
+
+"You are, I guess. I won't interrupt again."
+
+"Well, did I say this fellow was a boy?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, he was--he's grown up now. He rushed into a drug store--"
+
+"Was anything chasing him?" asked Ned innocently.
+
+Stacy gave no heed to the interruption.
+
+"And he said to the man in the store, 'Please, sir, some liniment and
+some cement?'"
+
+"'What?' asked the clerk all in a muddle. You see, he'd never had a
+prescription like that to fill before. It made him tired, 'cause he
+thought the kid was making fun of him."
+
+"'What--what's the trouble? What do you want liniment and cement
+for?'
+
+"'Cause,' said the boy to the pill man, ''cause mom hit pop on the
+head with a plate.'"
+
+For a moment there was silence, then the boys roared. But Ned never
+smiled.
+
+"Laugh, laugh! Why don't you laugh?" urged Walter.
+
+"Laugh? Huh! I laughed myself almost sick over that a long time ago.
+Read it in an almanac when I was in short trousers."
+
+"The ponies! The ponies!" cried Juan, rushing up to them, waving his
+arms, then running his fingers through his long black hair until it
+stood up like the quills of a porcupine.
+
+"What!" queried the Pony Rider Boys in sudden alarm. "What's the
+matter with the ponies?"
+
+Juan pointed to the place where the stock had been tethered after they
+arrived at the camp.
+
+There was not an animal to be seen anywhere on the plain.
+
+"Gone!" gasped the lads, with sinking hearts.
+
+"No, no, no. There!" stammered the guide.
+
+With one accord the boys ran at top speed to the spot indicated by
+Juan.
+
+There, stretched out in the long grass lay bronchos and burros.
+
+"They're dead, the ponies are dead, every one of them!" cried the lads
+aghast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE MIDNIGHT ALARM
+
+
+"What's this, what's this?" demanded the Professor, striding up.
+
+"Look! Look! The ponies are dead!" exclaimed Ned excitedly.
+
+"What do you suppose could have happened to them?" stammered Walter.
+
+"Is it possible? What's the meaning of this, guide?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his white teeth.
+
+In the meantime Tad had hurried to his own pony, and was down on his
+knees examining it. Placing his hands on the animal's side, he
+remained in that position for an instant, then sprang up.
+
+"They're not dead, fellows! They're alive!"
+
+"Asleep," grumbled Ned disgustedly.
+
+"But there's something the matter with them. Something has happened to
+the stock," added Tad.
+
+"Only a false alarm," nodded Stacy.
+
+"Think so? Try to wake your pony up," advised Tad.
+
+Stacy had already hurried to his own broncho, and now began tugging at
+the bridle rein, with sundry pokes in the animal's ribs.
+
+"I can't. He's in a trance," wailed Stacy, considerably startled.
+
+That expression came nearer to describing the condition of the stock
+than any other words could have done.
+
+"Guide, what do you know about this?" questioned the Professor. "Has
+some one been tampering with our animals?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders with an air of indifference.
+
+"No bother bronchs."
+
+"Then will you please tell us what is the matter with them?"
+
+"Sleepy grass!"
+
+"Sleepy grass?" chorused the lads.
+
+"Of course they're asleep all right," added Ned. "But whoever heard of
+sleepy grass?"
+
+"He means they're sleeping on the grass," Stacy informed them.
+
+"Ah! I begin to understand," nodded the Professor. "I think I know
+what the trouble is now. The guide is no doubt right."
+
+The boys gathered around him, all curiosity.
+
+"Tell us about it, Professor. We are very much mystified?" said the
+Pony Riders.
+
+"A long time ago I remember to have read, somewhere, of a certain
+grass in this region that possessed peculiar narcotic properties--"
+
+"What's narcotic?" interrupted Stacy.
+
+"Something that makes you go to sleep when you can't," explained Tad
+Butler, rather ambiguously.
+
+"When eaten by horses or cattle it is said to put them into deep
+sleep. The Rockefeller Institute, I believe, is already making an
+analytical test of the grass."
+
+"Please talk so I can understand it," begged Stacy.
+
+"Yes; those words make my head ache," scowled Ned. "Even the guide is
+making up faces in his effort to understand."
+
+"He does understand. He understands only too well. For many years this
+grass has been known. Cows turned out for the day would fail to return
+at night--"
+
+"To be milked," interjected Stacy.
+
+"And an investigation would disclose them sleeping in some region,
+where the sleepy grass grew
+
+And the fat boy hummed:
+
+"Down where the sleepy grass is growing."
+
+"Travelers who have tied out their horses in patches of the grass for
+the night have been unable to continue their journey until the animals
+recovered from their strange sleep. Thus the properties of the grass
+became known."
+
+"Indians use 'em to tame bad bronchos," the guide informed them.
+
+"Just so."
+
+"But, when will they wake up?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Mebby sun-up to-morrow," answered Juan, glancing up at the sky.
+
+"What, sleep twenty-four hours?" demanded Ned.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Preposterous."
+
+"Then, then, we've got to remain here all the rest of the afternoon
+and night--is that it?" demanded Tad.
+
+"It looks that way."
+
+"And you knew about this stuff, Juan?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Well, you're a nice sort of a guide, I must say."
+
+"You ought to be put off the reservation," threatened Stacy, shaking a
+menacing fist in front of the white teeth.
+
+In the meantime, Tad had gone over to the animals again, and, taking
+them in turn, sought to stir them up. He found he could not do so. The
+ponies' heads would drop to the ground after he had lifted and let go
+of them, just as if the animals were dead.
+
+"Gives you a creepy feeling, doesn't it?" shivered Walter.
+
+"I should say it does," answered Ned.
+
+"Well, what is it, Chunky?" asked Tad, who observed that Stacy had
+something on his mind that he was trying to formulate into words.
+
+"I've got an idea, fellows," he exploded.
+
+"Hold on to it, then. You may never get another," jeered Ned.
+
+"What is it, Master Stacy?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Then--then--then--that's what Juan and his burro have been eating
+all the time. I knew there was something the matter with them."
+
+A loud laugh greeted the fat boy's suggestion.
+
+"Guess he's about right, at that," grinned Tad.
+
+"A brilliant thought," agreed the Professor. "Boys, I must have some
+of that grass. I shall make some experiments with it."
+
+"Experiment on Chunky," they shouted.
+
+"No; he sleeps quite well enough as it is," smiled the Professor.
+
+"I want some of it too--no, not to eat," corrected the fat boy. "I'll
+feed it to my aunt's cat when I get back; then he won't be running
+away from home every night."
+
+"Better unload the rest of the equipment, boys," advised the
+Professor. "If we must remain here all night we might as well make the
+best of it."
+
+Without their ponies, the lads spent rather a restless afternoon. They
+had not fully realized before how much a part of them their horses had
+become until they were suddenly deprived of them.
+
+In the meantime, the bronchos slept on undisturbed.
+
+"I've got another idea," shouted Stacy.
+
+"Keep it to yourself," growled Ned. "Your ideas, like your jokes,
+graduated a long time ago."
+
+"Is there sleepy grass in the Catskill Mountains!" persisted Stacy.
+
+"We don't know, and we don't--"
+
+"I know there is, and that's what put Rip Van Winkle to sleep for
+twenty years," shouted the fat boy in high glee. "See, I know more
+than--"
+
+"Yes; you're the original boy wonder. We'll take that for granted,"
+nodded Ned Rector.
+
+Tad, however, was not inclined to look upon their enforced delay with
+anything like amusement. To him it had its serious side. He had not
+forgotten that they had been fleeing from the Indians. When he got an
+opportunity to do so, without his companions overhearing, he
+approached the Professor.
+
+"I think it would be a good plan for us to have a guard over our camp
+to-night."
+
+"On account of?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Very well; I think myself that it would be a prudent move. Have Juan
+sit up, then."
+
+"No, he's a sleepy bead. Suppose we boys take turns?"
+
+"Very well; arrange it to suit yourselves. I presume we ought to do
+something of the sort every night. It might have saved us some trouble
+on our Ozark journey had we been that prudent. Arrange it to suit you.
+I'll take my turn."
+
+"No; we can do it, Professor. You go to bed as usual. We'll draw lots
+to see who takes the different watches. With the four of us we'll have
+to take only two hours apiece. That won't be bad at all."
+
+The other boys, after the plan had been explained to them, entered
+into it enthusiastically. Walter was to take the first trick, Ned the
+next, Chunky the third and Tad the fourth.
+
+And they were to take their guns out with them. The Professor agreed
+to this, now that they had become more familiar with firearms. As a
+matter of fact, all the boys had developed into excellent marksmen,
+though Tad was recognized as the best shot of the party.
+
+Professor Zepplin, during the afternoon, gave each of them a lesson in
+revolver shooting, using for the purpose, his heavy army revolver.
+They did pretty well with this weapon, but, of course, were not nearly
+as expert with it as with the rifle.
+
+Evening came and the stock was still sleeping soundly. There was
+nothing the boys could do but let them sleep, though the fact of all
+the ponies and burros lying about as if dead began to make the Pony
+Riders nervous. Night came, and with it semi-darkness, the moon being
+overcast with a veil of fleecy white clouds, which cast a grayish film
+over the landscape. The lads joked each other about having the
+"creeps," but none would admit the charge.
+
+Walter, with rifle slung over his right shoulder, went out on the
+first watch with instructions to go at least two hundred yards from
+camp and keep walking around the camp in a circle. This would protect
+them from surprises on all sides. Ned decided not to retire until he
+had taken his guard trick, in view of the fact that he was to go on at
+eleven o'clock. But Stacy, proposing to get all the sleep he was
+entitled to, turned in early. The rest did not disturb him. The boys
+were unusually quiet that evening, perhaps feeling that the
+responsibility of the safety of the camp rested wholly upon their
+youthful shoulders.
+
+Ned came in at one o'clock, after having taken his turn, unslung his
+rifle, drew the cartridges then put them back in the magazine again.
+
+"I might need them before morning," he told himself.
+
+Chunky being sound asleep, Ned grabbed him by a foot giving him a
+violent pull.
+
+"Wat'cher want? Get out!" growled the fat boy sleepily.
+
+"Get up and take your watch!" commanded Ned.
+
+"Who's afraid of Indians?" mumbled Stacy.
+
+This time Ned took the lad by the collar, jerked him to his feet and
+shook him until Stacy yelled "Ouch!" so loudly as to awaken the entire
+camp.
+
+It took some time, however, to get Stacy himself awake sufficiently to
+make him understand that he had a duty to perform. Finally, however,
+he shouldered his rifle, after surreptitiously helping himself to a
+sandwich from the cook tent. Then he marched off, munching the bread
+and meat.
+
+"See here," snapped Ned, running after him. "You're not measuring off
+your distance. Come back and pace it off."
+
+"How many?"
+
+"Two hundred yards. Stretch your fat legs as far as they'll go, then
+you'll have a yard, more or less."
+
+Stacy started all over again, forgot the count, came back, then tried
+it again. Even at that he was not sure whether he had gone one hundred
+yards or five.
+
+He was awake enough, now, to observe his surroundings. The cool
+breezes of the night were tossing the leaves of the cottonwoods near
+the water course to the west of them, while here and there in the
+foliage might be heard the exultant notes of a mocking bird.
+
+Stacy shivered.
+
+"Guess it's going to freeze to-night," he decided, beginning his
+steady tramp about the camp of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+Muttering to himself, as was his habit when alone, Stacy kept on until
+finding himself opposite the ponies, he decided to go over and look at
+them. All were asleep. Not one had awakened since going down under the
+powerful influence of the "sleepy grass."
+
+"I'd like to eat some of that stuff myself, right now," Chunky decided
+out loud. "I'd have a good excuse for going to sleep then. Now I can't
+without getting jumped on by the fellows. Wonder what time it is--only
+half-past one. Must be something the matter with my watch. I know
+I've been out more'n two hours."
+
+This trip he circled out further from the camp, growing a little more
+confident because nothing had happened to disturb him.
+
+In the meantime the camp slept in peace--that is, the lads did until
+nearly time for the change of guard. Then the whole party was aroused
+with the sudden, startling conviction that something serious had
+happened.
+
+All at once the crack of a rifle sounded on the still night air. It
+was followed by another shot, and another, until four distinct reports
+had rolled across the plains.
+
+In wild disorder the Pony Rider Boys tumbled from their cots, and,
+grasping their weapons, leaped from the tents.
+
+"What's the row?" inquired the Professor.
+
+"Wow! Wow! Wow! Yeow!" shrieked a shrill voice to the northward.
+
+"It's Chunky. He's giving the alarm! We're attacked!" cried the lads.
+
+Bang! Bang!
+
+They saw the flash of the fat boy's weapon before the report reached
+their ears.
+
+A moment later the other boys caught sight of Stacy dashing into camp,
+hatless, waving his rifle and yelling as if bereft of his senses.
+
+"What is it? What is it?" cried the boys with one voice.
+
+"Indians! Indians! The prairie's full of them!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+MEETING THE ATTACK
+
+
+Instantly the camp was thrown into confusion. The lads ran here and
+there, not knowing what to do.
+
+"Get behind the ponies! That's the only cover we can find here. Run
+for it!"
+
+And run they did, the Professor outdistancing all the rest in his
+attempt to secrete himself where the enemy's weapons would not be
+likely to reach him.
+
+In a moment more, the camp of the Pony Rider Boys was deserted, and
+behind each sleeping pony lay a boy, with rifle barrel poked over the
+animal's back, ready to shoot at the first sign of the redskins.
+Stacy, in his excitement, had forgotten that not a cartridge was left
+in his magazine, and the others were too fully occupied to remember to
+tell him.
+
+For all of half an hour did the party lie protected. The boys began to
+grow restive. Tad's suspicions were being slowly aroused.
+
+"I'm going to do a little scouting," he told them, slipping from
+behind the pony and skulking along back of the tents. The moon was
+shining brightly now. He could see a long distance. Not a human being
+was in sight.
+
+"I thought so," he muttered, retracing his steps. "See here, Stacy
+Brown, what did you see--what did you shoot at?" he demanded sternly.
+
+"I--I shot the chute--I--I mean I chuted the shot--I mean--"
+
+"Say, what do you mean?"
+
+"I--I mean--say, leggo my neck, will you?" roared Chunky.
+
+"Fellows, he doesn't know what he means."
+
+"Guess he's been feeding on crazy grass out on the prairie," was Ned's
+conclusion.
+
+"There isn't an Indian anywhere around here. I know it. They would
+have been after us long before this, if there had been."
+
+One by one the boys came from their hiding places, the lazy Mexican
+last. Disapproving eyes were turned on Stacy.
+
+"Chunky, you come along and show us where you were when you shot--did
+you shoot at an Indian?" asked Tad.
+
+"Yes, and I--I--I shot him."
+
+"Show us. We're all from Chillicothe," demanded Ned.
+
+Stacy, with a show of importance, led the way, keeping a wary eye out
+for the enemy. It was noticed, however, that each of the lads held his
+rifle ready for business in case there should be an enemy about.
+
+"There! I was standing right over there--I guess."
+
+"You guess! Don't you know?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Yes; that's the place."
+
+The lad walked over to the identical spot from which he had first
+fired his rifle.
+
+"He was over there and I shot at him, so," said Stacy, leveling the
+weapon. "Ye-ow! There he is, now!" shrieked the boy.
+
+Every weapon flashed up to a level with the eyes.
+
+"There is something over there on the ground," decided the Professor.
+
+"Put down your guns so you don't shoot me," said Tad. "I'm going to
+find out what it is."
+
+Keeping his own weapon held at "ready," the lad walked boldly over to
+where a heap of some sort lay on the plain. It surely had not been
+there during the afternoon--Tad knew that.
+
+He reached it, stooped, peered, then uttered a yell.
+
+"What is it?" they cried, hurrying up.
+
+"You've done it now, Chunky Brown. You certainly have gone and done
+it."
+
+"What--what is it?" cried the others in alarm.
+
+"You've shot the lazy Mexican's burro. That's your Indian, Stacy
+Brown."
+
+Juan, who had followed them out on the plain, uttered a wail and threw
+himself upon the body of his prostrate burro. The animal, it seemed,
+had recovered consciousness during the night, and in a half-dazed
+condition had wandered out on the plain. Stacy, while crouching down
+on the ground, had seen the head and long ears of the burro. He
+thought the ears were part of the head dress of a savage and let fly a
+volley of bullets at it.
+
+"He--he isn't dead," shouted the fat boy. "See, I just pinked him in
+the ears."
+
+And, surely enough, an examination revealed a hole through each ear.
+The holes were so close to the animal's head that it was reasonable to
+suppose the shot had stunned him, being already in a weakened
+condition from the sleepy grass.
+
+The boys set to work to rouse the burro, which they succeeded in doing
+in a short time. Juan, with arm around the lazy beast's neck, led it
+back to camp, petting and soothing it with a chattering that they
+could not understand.
+
+There was no more sleep in camp that night, though the boys turned in
+at the Professor's suggestion. Every little while, laughter would
+sound in one of the tents, as the others fell to discussing Stacy's
+Indian attack.
+
+The next morning they were overjoyed to find that the ponies had
+awakened and were trying to get up.
+
+"Lead them out of that grass, fellows," shouted Tad, the moment he saw
+the ponies were coming around. "We don't want them to make another
+meal of that stuff."
+
+"Nor take another of Chunky's Rip Van Winkle sleeps," added Ned.
+
+Never having had a like experience, none of the lads knew what to do
+with their mounts after getting them sufficiently awake to lead them
+to a place of safety. They appealed to Juan for advice, but the lazy
+Mexican appeared to know even less than they.
+
+Tad, after studying the question a few moments, decided to give them
+water, though sparingly. This they appeared to relish and braced up
+quite a little. But the boy would not allow them to graze until nearly
+noon, when each one took his pony out, making sure that there was none
+of the sleepy grass around. The animals were then permitted to graze.
+
+About the middle of the afternoon Tad decided that all were fit to
+continue the journey, and that it would be safe to travel until
+sunset. Everyone was glad to get away from the spot where they had had
+such unpleasant experiences, and the boys set off, moving slowly, the
+stock not yet being in the best of condition.
+
+Late in the afternoon, when they had about decided to make camp, one
+of the boys espied an object, something like a quarter of a mile away,
+that looked like the roof of a house.
+
+Ned said it couldn't be that, as it appeared to be resting on the
+ground. They asked Juan if he knew what it was, and for a wonder he
+did. He said it was a dug-out--a place where a man lived.
+
+"Is he a hermit?" asked Stacy apprehensively, at which there was a
+laugh. Stacy had not forgotten his experiences in the cave of the
+hermit of the Nevada Desert.
+
+For the next hour, the lads were too busy, pitching tents and
+unloading the pack animals, to give further thought to the dug-out or
+its occupant; but when, after they had prepared their evening meal,
+they saw some one approaching on horseback, they were instantly
+curious again.
+
+The newcomer proved to be the owner of the dug-out. He was a tall,
+square-jawed man, with a short, cropped iron-gray beard and small
+blue, twinkling eyes.
+
+"Will you join us and have some supper?" asked Tad politely, walking
+out to greet the stranger.
+
+"Thank you; I will, young man," smiled the stranger.
+
+Tad introduced himself and companions.
+
+"You probably have heard my name before, young men. It is Kris
+Kringle; I'm living out here for my health and doing a little ranching
+on the side."
+
+Stacy looked his amazement.
+
+"Is--is he Santa Claus?" he whispered, tugging at Tad's coat sleeve.
+
+"No, young man. I am not related to the gentleman you refer to,"
+grinned Mr. Kringle.
+
+There was a general laugh at Stacy's expense.
+
+After supper, the visitor invited all hands to ride over to his
+dug-out and spend the evening with him. The boys accepted gladly,
+never having seen the inside of a dug-out, and not knowing what one
+looked like. Professor Zepplin had taken a sudden liking to the man
+with the Christmas name, and soon the two were engaged in earnest
+conversation.
+
+The distance being so short, Tad decided that they had better walk,
+leaving the ponies in charge of Juan so they might get a full night's
+rest. Then all hands set out for the dug-out.
+
+A short flight of steps led down into the place, the roof of which was
+raised just far enough above the ground to permit of two narrow
+windows on each side and at the rear end.
+
+The room in which they found themselves, proved to be a combination
+kitchen and dining room. Its neatness and orderliness impressed them
+at once.
+
+"And here," said Kris Kringle, "is what I call my den," throwing open
+a door leading into a rear room and lighting a hanging oil lamp.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys uttered an exclamation of surprised delight.
+
+On a hardwood floor lay a profusion of brightly colored Navajo rugs,
+the walls being hung with others of exquisite workmanship and
+coloring, interspersed with weapons and trophies of the chase, while
+in other parts of the room were rare specimens of pottery from ancient
+adobe houses of the Pueblos.
+
+At the far end of the room was a great fire-place. Book cases,
+home-made, stood about the room, full of books. The Professor
+realized, at once, that they were in the home of a student and a
+collector.
+
+"This is indeed an oasis in the desert," he glowed. "I shall be loath
+to leave here."
+
+"Then don't," smiled Mr. Kringle. "I'm sure I am glad enough to have
+company. Seldom ever see anyone here, except now and then a roving
+band of Indians."
+
+"Indians!" exclaimed Tad. "Do you have any trouble with them?"
+
+"Well, they know better than to bother with me much. We have had an
+occasional argument," said their host, his jaws setting almost
+stubbornly for the instant. "Most of the tribes in the state are
+peaceful, though the Apaches are as bad as ever. They behave
+themselves because they have to, not because they wish to do so."
+
+"I saw their fire dance the other night," began Tad.
+
+"What?" demanded Mr. Kringle.
+
+"Fire dance."
+
+"Tell me about it?"
+
+Tad did so, the host listening with grave face until the recital was
+ended.
+
+He shook his head disapprovingly.
+
+"And this--this Indian that you knocked down--was he an Apache?"
+
+"I don't know. I think so, though. He had on a peculiar head dress
+
+"That was one of them," interrupted Mr. Kringle, with emphasis. "And
+I'll wager you haven't heard the last of him yet. That's an insult
+which the Apache brave will harbor under his copper skin forever.
+He'll wait for years, but he'll get even if he can."
+
+The faces of the Pony Rider Boys were grave.
+
+"Have you a reliable guide?"
+
+"Far from it," answered the Professor. "If I knew where I could get
+another, I'd pack him off without ceremony."
+
+Kris Kringle was silent for a moment.
+
+"I need a little change of scene," he smiled. "How would you like to
+have me take the trail with you for a week or so?"
+
+"Would you?" glowed the Professor, half rising from his chair.
+
+"I think I might."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried the Pony Riders enthusiastically. "That will be fine."
+
+"Of course, you understand that I expect no pay. I am going because I
+happen to take a notion to do so. Perhaps I'll be able to serve you at
+the same time."
+
+The Professor grasped Mr. Kringle by the hand impulsively.
+
+"I'll send that lazy Juan on his way this very night--"
+
+"Let me do it," interposed Stacy, with flushing face. "I'll do it
+right, Professor. But I'll put on my pair of heavy boots first, so
+it'll hurt him more."
+
+The boys shouted with laughter, while the new guide's eyes twinkled
+merrily.
+
+"I think, perhaps, the young man might do it even more effectively
+than you or I," he said. "Have you weapons, Professor?"
+
+"Rifles."
+
+"That's good. We may need them."
+
+"Then you think?"
+
+"One can never tell."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+RIDING WITH KRIS KRINGLE
+
+
+A slender ribbon of dust unrolling across the plain far to the
+northward marked the receding trail of Juan and his lazy burro. They
+had given him a week's extra pay and sent him on his way.
+
+The burro was making for home, aided by the busy feet of its master,
+while Stacy Brown, shading his eyes with one hand, was watching the
+progress of the guide, whom he had just sent adrift.
+
+"Well, he's gone," grinned Stacy, turning to his companions, who were
+busy striking camp.
+
+"And a good riddance," nodded Tad.
+
+"He'll probably join the Indians and tell them where we are,"
+suggested Walter.
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," replied Tad. "Still, if they wish to find
+us they know how without Juan's telling them."
+
+"How?"
+
+"They can follow a trail with their eyes shut," said Ned.
+
+"That's right. They do not need to be told," muttered Tad.
+
+Everything being in readiness, the boys started with their outfit for
+the dug-out, where they were to be joined by Kris Kringle. They felt a
+real relief to know that they were to have with them a strong man on
+whom they were sure they could rely to do the right thing under all
+circumstances. Tad, however, believed that Mr. Kringle had decided to
+join them, fearing they would be attacked by the Apaches and come to
+serious harm. Yet he hardly thought the redskins would dare to follow
+them, after the latter had once gotten over the frenzy of their fire
+dance. By that time the Indian agents would have rounded them all up
+on the reservations, where the Indians would be able to do no more
+harm for a while.
+
+After picking up the new guide the start was made. The party had water
+in plenty in the water-bags, so that no effort was made to pick up a
+water hole when they made camp late in the afternoon. The guide had
+brought in his pack a tough old sage hen, at which the lads were
+inclined to jeer when he announced his intention of cooking it for
+their supper.
+
+"You'll change your mind when you taste it, young gentlemen. It
+depends upon the cooking entirely. A sage hen may be a delicious
+morsel, or it may not," answered Mr. Kringle, with a grin.
+
+They were encamped near a succession of low-lying buttes, and to while
+away the time until the supper hour, the boys strolled away singly to
+stretch their legs on the plain after the long day's ride in the hot
+sun.
+
+When they returned an hour or so later, Stacy, they observed, was
+swinging a curious forked stick that he had picked up somewhere a few
+moments ago.
+
+"What you got there?" questioned Ned.
+
+"Don't know. Picked it up on the plain. Such a funny looking thing,
+that I brought it along."
+
+"Let me see it," asked Mr. Kringle.
+
+Stacy handed it to him.
+
+"This," said the guide, turning the stick over in his hand, "is a
+divining rod."
+
+"Divining rod?" demanded Stacy, pressing forward.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Never heard of it. Is it good to eat?"
+
+"Looks to me like a wish bone," interjected Ned. "Do you eat wish
+bones, Chunky?"
+
+"Might, if I were hungry enough."
+
+"A divining rod is used to locate springs. Some users of it have been
+very successful. I couldn't find a lake with it, even if I fell in
+first."
+
+"Indeed," marveled the Professor. "I have heard of the remarkable work
+of divining rods. What Rind of wood is it?"
+
+"This is hazel wood. Oak, elm, ash or privet also are used, but hazel
+is preferred in this country."
+
+"Then--then we won't have to go dry any more--I can find water with
+this when I'm dry?" questioned Stacy.
+
+"You might; then again you might not."
+
+"Better take it away from him," suggested Ned. "He might find a
+spring. If he did he'd be sure to fall in and drown."
+
+The stick, which was shaped like the letter Y, was an object of great
+interest to the Pony Rider Boys. One by one they took it out on the
+plain, in an effort to locate some water. The guide instructed them to
+hold the Y with the bottom up, one prong in each hand and to walk
+slowly.
+
+But, try as they would, they were able to get no results.
+
+"The thing's a fraud!" exclaimed Ned disgustedly, throwing the
+divining rod away.
+
+Stacy picked it up.
+
+"I know why it doesn't work," he said.
+
+"Why?" demanded the other boys.
+
+"'Cause--'cause there isn't any water to make it work," he replied
+wisely.
+
+The boys groaned.
+
+Shortly after returning to camp, they found the fat boy standing over
+a pail of water holding the stick above it.
+
+He was talking to the stick confidentially, urging it to "do
+something," to the intense amusement of the whole outfit.
+
+"Now, where's your theory?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Why, it doesn't have to work, does it? Don't we know there's water
+here? If we didn't the stick would tell us, maybe. Take my word for
+it, this outfit won't have to go dry after this. Stacy Brown and his
+magic wand will find all the water needed," continued the fat boy
+proudly.
+
+"Your logic is good, at any rate, even if the rod doesn't work at
+command," laughed the Professor.
+
+Supper was a jolly affair, for everyone was in high spirits. The sage
+hen, contrary to general expectation, was found to be delicious.
+Chunky begged for the wish bone and got it. He said he'd use it for a
+divining rod when he wanted to find a little spring.
+
+"Mr. Kringle, I am commissioned by the fellows to ask you a question,"
+announced Tad, after the meal had been in progress for a time.
+
+"Ask it," smiled the guide.
+
+"We thought we'd like to call you Santa Claus, seeing you've brought
+us so much cheer. Then again, it's your name you know. Kris Kringle is
+Santa Claus."
+
+"Oh, well, call me what you please, young men."
+
+From that moment on, Kris Kringle was Santa Claus to the Pony Rider
+Boys.
+
+They had now come to a rolling country, with here and there high
+buttes, followed by large areas of bottom lands which were covered
+with rank growths of bunch grass. Traveling was more difficult than it
+had been, and water more scarce.
+
+It was on the second day out, after they had been skirmishing for
+water in every direction, that the lads heard the familiar yell from
+Chunky.
+
+"There goes the trouble maker," cried Ned. "He's at it again."
+
+The guide bounded up, starting on a run for the spot where Chunky's
+wail had been heard. The others were not far behind.
+
+They saw the red, perspiring face of the fat boy above a clump of
+grass, his yells for help continuing, unabated.
+
+"What is it?" shouted the guide.
+
+"I've got it, Santa Claus! I've got it!"
+
+"Got what?" roared the Professor.
+
+"The stick!--I mean it's got me. Help! Help!"
+
+Stacy was wrestling about as if engaged in combat with some enemy.
+They could not imagine what had gone wrong--what had caused his
+sudden cries of alarm.
+
+"It's the divining rod!" called the guide.
+
+"He's found water!" shouted the boys.
+
+"I've got it! I've got it! Come help me hold it. The thing's jerking
+my arms off."
+
+To the amazement of the Pony Rider Boys, the forked stick in the hands
+of the fat boy was performing some strange antics. Breathing hard, he
+would force it up until it was nearly upright, when all at once the
+point of the triangle would suddenly swerve downward, bending the rod
+almost to the breaking point.
+
+"See it? See it?"
+
+"Most remarkable," breathed Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Yes, there can be no doubt about it," nodded the guide.
+
+"He's bluffing," disagreed Ned.
+
+"Doesn't look to me as if he were," returned Tad.
+
+"Take hold with me here, if you don't believe me," cried Stacy. "No,
+not on the stick, take hold of my wrists."
+
+Ned promptly accepted the invitation.
+
+Instantly the tug of the divining rod was felt by the new hands.
+
+Ned let go quickly.
+
+"Ugh! The thing gives me the creeps."
+
+"Let me try it, Master Stacy," said Professor Zepplin.
+
+"I can't let go of it," wailed Chunky.
+
+"Step off a piece," directed the guide.
+
+Stacy did so, whereupon the divining rod immediately ceased its
+peculiar actions.
+
+The Professor took hold of it, but the rod refused to work for him.
+
+"Let Santa Claus try it," suggested Ned.
+
+The guide did so, but with no more success than the Professor had had.
+
+"I told you it wouldn't work for me," Mr. Kringle grinned. "Here,
+Master Tad, you try it."
+
+Tad, with the rod grasped firmly in his hands, walked back and forth
+three times without result. On the fourth attempt, however, the stick
+suddenly bent nearly double.
+
+All were amazed.
+
+"Why were we unable to get results, Mr. Kringle?" questioned the
+Professor.
+
+"According to some French writers as much depends upon the man as on
+the divining rod. Where one succeeds another fails absolutely.
+Supposing the others take a try?"
+
+Walter and Ned did so, but neither could get the rod to move for him.
+
+"I guess Chunky is the champion water-finder," laughed Ned.
+
+"Would it not be a good idea to find out whether or not there is water
+here?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Yes," agreed the guide. "It may be so far down that we cannot reach
+it, however. You know in some parts of this region they are locating
+water with the rod and sinking artesian wells."
+
+"Why--why didn't we think to bring some down with us?" demanded
+Chunky. "Can't we get any in some of the towns down here?"
+
+"Some what?" questioned the guide.
+
+"Artesian wells."
+
+A roar greeted the fat boy's question.
+
+"Bring down a load of artesian wells!" jeered Ned.
+
+"An artesian well, my boy, is nothing more than a hole in the ground,"
+the guide informed him, much to Chunky's chagrin.
+
+The spot where the divining rod had so suddenly gotten busy was about
+midway of an old water course, covered with a thick growth of bunch
+grass.
+
+"Get some tools, boys," directed the Professor.
+
+Tad ran back to camp, which lay some distance to the east of where
+they were gathered. Searching out a pick and two shovels, he leaped on
+his pony, dashing back to the arroyo.
+
+"That was quickly done," smiled Santa Claus. "Are all of you lads as
+quick on an errand as that?"
+
+"Only Chunky," answered Ned solemnly.
+
+The guide began to dig, in which effort he was joined by Stacy Brown,
+who, with a shovel, caved in about as much dirt as he threw out.
+
+"Here, give me that shovel," commanded Ned. "You'll fill up the bole
+before we get it dug."
+
+Tad, having tethered his pony, took the extra shovel and went to work.
+
+"Guess it's a false alarm," decided Ned, after they were up to their
+shoulders in the hole.
+
+"Don't be too sure. The ground is quite damp here. Try your rod, young
+man."
+
+"Chunky held the divining rod over the excavation, whereupon it drew
+down with even greater force than before.
+
+"Dig," directed the guide.
+
+They did so with a will.
+
+"Here's water!" shouted Kris Kringle.
+
+They crowded about the hole, amazement written on every face.
+
+A fresh, cool stream bubbled up into the hole, causing those in the
+pit to scramble out hastily.
+
+"Some of you boys run back to camp and fetch pails and water-bags,"
+directed the guide.
+
+"I'll go. I've got the pony here," spoke up Tad.
+
+"No; I want you to do something else for me."
+
+"We'll all go," offered Walter. The three lads started on a run,
+Chunky holding his precious divining rod tightly clasped in both
+hands.
+
+"What is it you wish?" questioned Tad.
+
+"I wish you would ride over toward that small butte and cut a load of
+brush. Want to rip-rap the outer edge of this water hole, so the bank
+will not cave in and undo all our work! Have you a hatchet?"
+
+"Yes, in my saddlebags."
+
+"Good. Hurry, please."
+
+Tad leaped into the saddle, and putting spurs to his broncho, tore
+through the high bunch grass, above which only his head was now
+observable. In a short time he was back with the green stuff piled
+high on the saddle in front of him, with a large bundle tied to the
+cantle of the saddle behind.
+
+Unloading this, Butler started back at a gallop for more. When there
+was work to be done, Tad Butler was happy. Activity to him was a tonic
+that spurred him on to ever greater efforts.
+
+This time he found himself obliged to climb higher up the butte in
+order to get branches of available size. These he cut and threw down.
+After having procured what he thought would be all he could carry the
+lad scrambled down, and, dropping on his knees began tying them into
+bundles. The heat was sweltering, and occasionally be paused to wipe
+away the perspiration.
+
+"I smell smoke," sniffed Tad. "I wonder where it comes from?"
+
+The odor grew stronger, but so interested was he in his labor that he
+did not at once understand the significance of his discovery.
+
+"W-h-o-o-e-e!"
+
+It was a long-drawn, warning shout.
+
+"It's a signal!" exclaimed the lad, straightening up. "I wonder what's
+the matter?"
+
+As he looked toward the camp a great wall of flame seemed to leap from
+the ground between him and his companions. There it poised for one
+brief instant, then, with a roar swooped down into the tall bunch
+grass, rushing roaring and crackling toward him.
+
+For an instant he stood unbelieving, then the truth dawned upon him.
+
+"The prairie's on fire!" cried Tad.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DASH FOR LIFE
+
+
+The shouts of the Pony Rider Boys and of the guide were swallowed up
+in the roar of the flames.
+
+"They'll be burned alive!" whispered the lad.
+
+Then, all at once he realized that he himself was in dire peril.
+
+"I'll have to go the other way and be quick about it at that," he
+decided, making a dash for the pony, that already was whinnying with
+fear and tugging at its tether.
+
+Tad did not wait to untie the stake rope. With a sweep of his knife he
+severed it and vaulted into the saddle.
+
+Whirling the animal about he headed to the west. To his alarm he
+suddenly discovered that the prairie fire was rapidly encircling him,
+the flames running around the outer edge of the bottoms with express
+train speed, threatening to head him off and envelop him. Had it not
+been for the long grass, which, tangling the feet of the pony, made
+full speed impossible, the race with the flames would have been an
+easy one to win. As it was, Tad knew that the chances were against
+him.
+
+But the dire peril in which he found himself did not daunt the Pony
+Rider Boy. Perhaps his face had grown a shade paler underneath the
+tan, but that was all. His senses were on the alert, his lips met in a
+firm pressure and the hand gripped the bridle rein a little more
+firmly, perhaps, than usual.
+
+Uttering a shrill cry to inform his companions that he was alive to
+his peril, and at the same time to encourage the broncho, Tad dug in
+the rowels of his spurs.
+
+The frightened pony cleared the ground with all four feet, uttering a
+squeal, and launching itself at the rapidly narrowing clear space
+ahead of him; and urged to greater and greater endeavor at every leap
+by the short, sharp "yips" of his rider.
+
+For all the concern that showed in his face, Tad Butler might have
+been running a horse race for a prize rather than fleeing for his
+life.
+
+"If I make it I'm lucky,"--commented Tad grimly. He found himself
+wondering, at the same time, how the fire had started. He knew that
+the flames first showed themselves midway between where he was at work
+and the place where his companions were engaged at the water hole.
+
+He could not understand it. Fire was necessary to use to start fire,
+and he knew that none of them had been foolish enough even to light a
+match in the dry bunch grass of the prairie.
+
+The flames were reaching mountain high by this time, great clouds of
+smoke rolling in on the breeze and nearly suffocating him.
+
+At times Tad was unable to see the opening ahead of him. When,
+however, the smoke lifted, giving him a momentary view, he saw that
+the gap was rapidly closing.
+
+All at once his attention was drawn from the closing gap.
+
+"Yeow! Yeow! Yeow! Y-e-o-w!"
+
+A series of shrill, blood curdling yells from out the pall of smoke
+and flame at the rear, bombarded his ears.
+
+At first he thought it was Indians; then the improbability of this
+being the case came to him.
+
+"Yeow! Yeow! Yeow!" persisted the voice behind, and it was coming
+nearer every second.
+
+Tad slackened the speed of his pony ever so little, despite the peril
+of his position.
+
+"There's somebody in there behind me, and, he'll never get out alive
+if he loses his way."
+
+The moment this thought occurred to him, Tad began to yell at the top
+of his voice.
+
+Suddenly from out the thick veil of smoke burst a pony with a mighty
+snort, coming on in bounds, each one of which cleared many feet of
+ground. On the pony's back was Stacy Brown, hatless, coatless, his
+hair standing up in the breeze, his face as red as if it had come in
+actual contact with the flames.
+
+"Yeow!" he roared, as his pony shot past Tad as if the latter's mount
+were standing still. Where Stacy had come from, how he had passed
+through that wall of flame, Tad had not the slightest idea.
+
+As a matter of fact the explanation was simple enough. The guide had
+sent Chunky out to assist Tad in bringing in the rip-rapping material.
+Stacy had made a detour from the camp, having gotten just inside the
+danger zone when the fire broke out. Guided by the butte where he knew
+his companion must be, Stacy headed for that point. There he came upon
+Tad's trail, and began yelling to attract his attention. He had heard
+Tad's answering cry, and this inspired the fat boy to renewed efforts.
+
+Stacy, now that he had passed Tad, slowed up ever so little. He had
+passed his companion so swiftly that he was unable to determine
+whether or not Tad were in distress.
+
+The latter came up, overhauling Stacy in a few moments. Both ponies
+were steaming from the terrific gruelling they were giving themselves.
+
+"What you doing here?" exploded Tad.
+
+"Same thing you are."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Trying to save myself from being burned alive--"
+
+"Don't slow up! Don't slow up!" shouted Tad. "Keep going!"
+
+"I am. Wat's matter with you?"
+
+"I don't see what you had to come tumbling into this mess for,"
+objected Tad.
+
+"Didn't tumble in. Rode in. Came to help you--"
+
+"Precious lot of help you'll be to me. Lucky if we're not both burned
+with our boots on. See! The flame's narrowing in on us. More steam,
+Chunky! More steam!" urged Tad.
+
+"Can't. Blow up the boiler if I do," Stacy could not be other than
+humorous, even under their present trying situation.
+
+"That's better than burning out your fires, and it's quicker too--"
+
+All at once, Chunky uttered a terrible howl. His pony had stepped into
+a hole and gone down floundering in the long grass, Chunky himself
+having been hurled over the animal's head, landing several feet in
+advance.
+
+"Help! Help!"
+
+The rest was lost as the fat boy's face plowed the earth filling
+mouth, eyes and nostrils.
+
+Tad did not lose his presence of mind, though events had been
+following each other in such quick succession.
+
+Changing the reins to his right hand and bunching them there, he
+grasped the pommel of the saddle, driving his own pony straight at the
+kicking, floundering Chunky.
+
+The pony swerved ever so little, Tad's body swept down, and when it
+rose, his fingers were fastened in the shirt collar of his companion,
+with Chunky yelling and choking, as he was being dragged over the
+ground at almost a killing pace.
+
+Tad had no time to do more than hold on to his friend. He dared not
+stop to lift him to the saddle just then. The flames were roaring
+behind them and on either side, leaving a long, narrow lane ahead,
+through which lay their only hope of safety.
+
+"Buck up! Buck up, Chunky!" shouted Tad, himself taking a fresh brace
+in the stirrups, for the weight of the fat boy's dragging body was
+slowly pulling Tad from the saddle.
+
+Stacy was howling like an Indian, not from fear, but from anger at the
+rough usage to which he was being subjected. He did not stop to think
+that it was the only way his life might be saved--nor that his own
+pony lay back there in the bunch grass amid the flame and smoke.
+
+Tad knew it.
+
+Now, by a mighty effort Tad righted himself again, and, leaning
+forward, threw one arm about the pony's neck, trusting to the animal
+to follow the outward trail to safety of its own accord.
+
+Tad felt a sudden jolt that nearly caused him to slide from his pony
+on the side opposite Chunky. At the same time, the strain on the lad's
+arm was suddenly released.
+
+Tad was up on his saddle like a flash. His right hand held the fat
+boy's shirt, while a series of howls to the rear told him where the
+owner of the shirt lay.
+
+Tad groaned. Pulling his pony fairly back on its haunches, he dashed
+back where Stacy lay kicking, entangling himself deeper and deeper in
+the bunch grass.
+
+Had Tad not had presence of mind they both might have perished right
+there. He was off like a flash. With supreme strength, he grasped the
+body of his fallen companion, raising him into the saddle.
+
+"Hold on!" he shouted. "Don't you dare fall off!"
+
+Stacy clung like a monkey to a pony in a circus race.
+
+"Y-i-i-p!" trilled Tad. He had no time to mount. Already he could feel
+the hot breath of the flames on his cheek.
+
+The broncho was off with a bound.
+
+"Tad! Tad!" cried Chunky in sudden alarm, now realizing that he was
+alone. "Whe--where are you?"
+
+"H-h-h-h-e-r-e!"
+
+"W-w-where?"
+
+"H-h-h-holding to the b-r-r-oncho's t-tail."
+
+"Wow!" howled Stacy, as, turning in the saddle, he discovered his
+companion being fairly jerked through the air, holding fast to the
+pony's tail, the lad's feet hardly touching the ground at all. The
+broncho, that ordinarily would have resented such treatment, too fully
+occupied in saving his own life from the flames, gave no heed to the
+weight he was dragging, and it is doubtful if he even realized there
+was any additional weight there.
+
+With a final, desperate leap, the broncho shot out ahead of the
+narrowing lane. Like the jaws of some great monster, the two lapping
+lines of fire closed in behind them, roaring as if with deadly rage.
+
+The pony dashed out into a broad, open water course, whose dry,
+glistening sands would prove an effectual barrier to the prairie fire.
+
+Tad, though everything was swimming before his eyes, realized quickly
+that they were now well out of danger.
+
+"St-t-t-top him. I c-c-c-an't let go if you d-d-don't."
+
+"Whoa! Whoa! Don't you know enough to quit when you're through?"
+chided Chunky, tugging at the reins. The broncho carried them some
+distance before the lad was able to pull him down. Finally he did so.
+
+"Leggo!" he shouted, at the same time whirling the pony sharply about,
+fairly "cracking the whip" with Tad Butler.
+
+Chunky's clever foresight probably saved Tad Butler's life, for,
+instantly the pony found itself free, it began bucking and kicking in
+a circle, kicking a ring all round the compass before it finally
+decided to settle down on all fours. Finishing, it meekly lowered its
+nose to the ground and now, as docile as a kitten after having supped
+on warm milk, began dozing, the steam rising in a cloud from its
+sides.
+
+"Well, of all the fool fools, you're the champion fool!" growled
+Stacy, slipping from the saddle and surveying the broncho with
+disapproving eyes. "Hah! I guess we'd been done to a turn by this if
+it hadn't been for you, just the same. Hello, Tad!"
+
+Tad had doubled up in a heap where the tail of the broncho had flung
+him. He was well-nigh spent, but he smiled back at his companion, who
+stood on a slight rise of ground, almost a heroic figure.
+
+Chunky's shirt was entirely missing, his skin red from the heat,
+ridged with scratches where he had come in violent contact with cactus
+plants, his hair tousled and gray with dust.
+
+"Well you are a sight," grinned Tad.
+
+"You wouldn't take a prize at a baby show yourself," retorted Stacy,
+spicily.
+
+Tad's clothes were torn, and his limbs were black and blue all the way
+down where the hoofs of the broncho had raked them again and again.
+
+"My arms feel a foot longer than they did. What are you looking at?"
+
+Stacy's eyes grew large and luminous as he gazed off over the plains.
+
+"Look! Look, Tad!" he whispered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+FOLLOWING A HOT TRAIL
+
+
+"Fire! Fire!" cried Professor Zepplin, leaping up from where he had
+been leaning over, watching the water bubbling in the bottom of the
+excavation they had made.
+
+The guide had been hanging over the hole, dipping water to Ned, who
+was turning it into the water-bags.
+
+"Where, where?" demanded Mr. Kringle explosively. He also sprang to
+his feet. "It's a prairie fire!"
+
+"The boys are caught. They'll perish!" exclaimed Professor Zepplin,
+with blanching face. "Go to them, go to them, Mr. Kringle!" he begged.
+
+"No living thing could get through that wall of fire, Professor,"
+announced the guide impressively. "We'll shout and perhaps, if alive,
+they'll bear us."
+
+They did so, with the result already known.
+
+"Which direction did Master Stacy take?" Mr. Kringle asked.
+
+"I saw him riding down that way," replied Walter, pointing excitedly.
+
+"Then, perhaps he is safe outside of the fire zone. Some of you hurry
+back to the camp, The stock may take fright and stampede. No, we'll
+all go. The wind may shift at any moment, and while I do not think the
+flames could reach the camp, all our animals might be suffocated, even
+if they did not succeed in getting away."
+
+"But you're not going to desert Tad and Chunky, are you?" demanded
+Walter indignantly.
+
+"Certainly not. What can we do here? We must get the ponies first;
+then we'll hurry to them. I'm afraid they've been caught," answered
+the guide.
+
+"If there's any way of escape you may depend upon it that Master Tad
+has discovered that way," answered the Professor. "He is a resourceful
+boy, and--"
+
+But the rest were already dashing madly toward the camp and Professor
+Zepplin began to do so with all speed to catch up with them. The hot
+breath of the prairie fire had brought the color to his blanched
+cheeks.
+
+"How--how do you think the fire started?" stammered the Professor,
+when he at last came up with the guide.
+
+"It was set afire," answered Kris Kringle grimly.
+
+"Set!" shouted the Professor and the two boys all in one breath.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"That remains to be seen."
+
+"Do you mean that one of the boys was imprudent enough to build a fire
+in that grass? Surely they would not have been so foolish as to do a
+thing like that."
+
+"As I said, that remains to be seen. The first thing to be done is to
+get to them as quickly as possible, though I don't know that we can do
+any good. They're either out of it, by this time, or else they're
+not," added Mr. Kringle suggestively. "Professor, I wish you and one
+of the boys would get out your rifles, mount your ponies and watch the
+camp, while two of us go in search of the lost ones."
+
+"Watch the camp?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Merely as a precaution."
+
+"I'll attend to that. I want all of you to get after Tad and Stacy. We
+don't care about the camp particularly, when compared with two human
+lives."
+
+The smoke was rolling over them in such dense clouds that the camp was
+wholly obscured from view until they were upon it.
+
+"Quick! Get the horses before they break away!" commanded the guide.
+
+"I can't find them!" shouted Ned, who had bounded on ahead and
+disappeared in the great suffocating cloud.
+
+Walter was only a few steps behind him, both boys groping, blinking
+and coughing as the smoke got into eyes and lungs.
+
+"Lie down when it gets stronger than you can stand. There's always a
+current of fresh air near the ground," called the guide.
+
+Both lads adopted his suggestion instantly, and they were none too
+soon, for already they were getting dizzy. After a few long breaths,
+they were up, groping about once more in search of the stock.
+
+"Over to you right," called the Professor.
+
+"We've been there. They're not there at all," answered Ned.
+
+By this time the guide had dived into the cloud.
+
+"The stock has gone," they heard him shoat.
+
+"Have they stampeded?" roared the Professor.
+
+"I don't know. I'll find out in a minute."
+
+"Queer that this smoke blows two ways at once," said Walter.
+
+"There is a slight breeze blowing this way," explained Ned. "Not
+enough, however, to turn the fire back. It has got too good a start."
+
+Suddenly a weird "c-o-o-e-e" sounded to the right of them.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"It's the guide, Walt. He's trying to call the boys, to see if they
+are alive," explained Ned.
+
+"I don't think so. That cry is for some other purpose. I'm going over
+where he is to find out what it does mean. Come on."
+
+Together the lads ran as fast as they could in the direction from
+which the guide's voice had come.
+
+They found him with hands shaped into a megaphone, uttering his shrill
+cries. He made no answer to their questions as to what he was trying
+to do.
+
+All at once off in the cloud they heard rapid hoofbeats. The boys
+glanced at each other in surprise.
+
+"It's the ponies returning," breathed Walter Perkins.
+
+Ned shook his head.
+
+The cries now took on a more insistent tone, and a moment later two
+ponies came whinnying into the camp, snorting with fear. Kris Kringle
+spoke to them sharply, whereupon they came trotting up to him with
+every evidence of pleasure.
+
+The lads were amazed.
+
+"Can you boys shoot a rope?"
+
+"Yes," they answered together.
+
+"Which one is the better at it?"
+
+"Ned is more expert than I am."
+
+"Take one of my ponies. We've got to go after the stock. Rope and
+bring them in as fast as possible. It's getting late, and it will be
+dark before we know it. There's not more than two hours of daylight
+left."
+
+"I can take my pony and help," began Walter.
+
+"You haven't any pony. They're all gone."
+
+Ned and the guide dashed from the camp at break-neck speed. Emerging
+from the dust cloud they saw some of the stock far off on the plain.
+
+"There they are!" cried Ned
+
+"Thank goodness, they're all together. And they are not running. We've
+got them bunched."
+
+"Were they afraid of the smoke? What made them break away?"
+
+"They didn't break away."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Their tethers were cut and they were sent adrift," answered the guide
+grimly.
+
+Ned was speechless with surprise.
+
+Some of the ponies, objecting to being roped, ran away, necessitating
+a lively chase. Kris Kringle worked with the precision of an automatic
+gun and with proportionate speed. In half an hour they had roped all
+the ponies, and, with the burros trailing along behind, started back
+to camp as rapidly as possible.
+
+A heavy pall of smoke still hung over the camp and all the surrounding
+country.
+
+Once more they staked down the ponies and pack animals, and urging
+vigilance on the part of Professor Zepplin, Ned and the guide dashed
+away at full gallop in search of the two missing lads.
+
+"Are we going through the fire?" questioned Ned apprehensively.
+
+"We're going to try it. The worst of it must have passed before this,
+but we may have to turn back or turn out for spots. It's the shortest
+way, and the only course to follow if we want to know what has become
+of them."
+
+Spreading out a little they continued on their way, the ponies
+snorting, threatening to whirl about and race back into the open
+plain. The ground was like a furnace and the grass smouldered beneath
+them, heating their feet and singeing their fetlocks.
+
+Suddenly Ned's pony reared into the air, bucked and hurled its rider
+far over into the smouldering bunch grass.
+
+Ned uttered a yell of warning as he felt himself going.
+
+The guide wheeled like a flash. Ned's mount had whirled and was away
+like a shot. But the guide was after him with even greater speed. The
+chase came to an abrupt ending some few rods farther on, when Kris
+Kringle's lariat squirmed out, bringing the fleeing pony to the ground
+with its nose in the hot dust.
+
+Without dismounting, the guide turned his own mount, and fairly
+dragging the unwilling pony behind him, pounded back to the place
+where Ned had been unhorsed.
+
+"Grab him!" commanded the guide to Ned, who had quickly scrambled to
+his feet. "What was it that he saw?"
+
+"I don't know. Guess he made up his mind to go back."
+
+"No; he saw something. Hang on to him and cover the ground all about
+you till you find it."
+
+"Wha--what do you--"
+
+"Never mind. Look!"
+
+"Here! Here it is!" cried Ned aghast.
+
+The guide was at his side instantly.
+
+"It's a pony," gasped the Pony Rider boy.
+
+Kris Kringle was off his own mount instantly, and bidding Ned hold the
+animal, he made a brief examination of the fallen horse, after which
+he darted here and there, unheeding the fact that the still burning
+grass was blistering his feet through the heavy soles of his boots.
+
+For several rods Kringle ran along the faint trail that Tad and Stacy
+had left, or rather, that the fire had left after passing over it.
+
+"They beat their way out here. We may find them later. Come on!"
+
+Again Ned and the guide dashed away, both keeping their gaze on the
+smoking prairie about them. The smoke now was almost more than they
+could bear.
+
+"Do--do you think they are alive?" asked Ned unsteadily.
+
+"So far. If they are not, it's not their fault. The Professor is
+right. Those boys have pluck enough to pull them through, but
+sometimes pluck alone will not do it. A prairie fire is no respecter
+of pluck."
+
+They burst out into an open space. There were no signs of either of
+the missing boys.
+
+"Something has happened to them. We must have missed them," announced
+the guide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+AGAINST BIG ODDS
+
+
+"What is it, Chunky?"
+
+"There!"
+
+Tad jerked his companion flat on the ground, flattening himself beside
+Stacy at the same instant.
+
+What had caused their sudden alarm was the sight of two Indians,
+sitting on their ponies without saddles, some distance out on the open
+plain. The redskins were wrapped in their brightly colored blankets,
+which enveloped them from head to knees. Even the hands were invisible
+beneath the folds of the blankets.
+
+"D-d-do you think they saw us, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. It's safe to say they did. Indian eyes don't miss very
+much. You ought to know that, by this time. I wish we could make that
+pony lie down."
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+"He's too afraid of the ground--thinks it's still hot, and I don't
+blame him. The fire has singed him pretty well as it is."
+
+The Indians sat their mounts as motionless as statues, the ponies
+headed directly toward where the two lads were lying.
+
+"I'll bet they're got guns under those blankets," decided Tad. "You
+can't trust an Indian even while you are looking at him."
+
+"Anybody'd think you'd been hunting Indians all your life," growled
+Stacy.
+
+"They've been hunting me mostly," grinned Tad.
+
+"And usually caught you," added Chunky.
+
+"I don't like this lying here as if we were scared of them."
+
+"But, what else can we do, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Neither do I. Wish I had a shirt. I'll spoil my complexion clear down
+to my waist. Resides, I'm not fit to be seen."
+
+"You're lucky to be alive," growled Tad. "I'm going to get out of
+this."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Listen, and you'll know. I'm going to get on the pony; then, as soon
+as I'm in the saddle, you jump up behind me and we'll start back to
+camp."
+
+"Not--not through that fire?" protested Stacy.
+
+"No; I don't dare try it. I'm afraid we'd get lost in the smoke and
+perhaps get burned as well. We'll ride out some distance, then turn to
+the left and try to go around the burned district."
+
+"What if the Indians chase us?"
+
+"I don't believe they will. They'll hardly dare do that. And, besides,
+these may be friendly Indians."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Stacy. "They look it."
+
+Tad got up boldly, and without even looking toward the silent red men,
+began fussing about his saddle, cinching the girths, and straightening
+the saddle. His last act before mounting was to see that the coils of
+his lariat were in order.
+
+"All right," announced the lad, vaulting into the saddle.
+
+Stacy scrambled up behind him without loss of time, and they rode out
+into the open, the fat boy peering apprehensively over his companion's
+shoulder.
+
+"You keep watch of them, Chunky, but don't let them see you doing it.
+I won't look at them at all. We don't want them to think we're
+afraid."
+
+Stacy fidgeted.
+
+"You bet I'll watch 'em. Wish I had my rifle."
+
+"I don't."
+
+"Huh!"
+
+"You have distinguished yourself quite enough with that rifle as it
+is. We don't want any more of your fancy shooting."
+
+"There they go," warned Stacy.
+
+"I see them." Tad had been cautiously observing the horsemen out of
+the corners of his eyes. "Moving in the same direction we are. I don't
+like the looks of it. Still, if they don't get any nearer we may be
+thankful."
+
+The pony carrying the boys was walking easily, and the mounts of the
+Indians were doing the same.
+
+"Jog a little," suggested Stacy.
+
+"That's a good idea. It will tell us quickly whether they are trying
+to keep up with us."
+
+He touched the pony lightly with his spurs. The little animal switched
+its tail, for its sides were tender, and started off.
+
+"There they go, Tad! Jogging the same gait as ours!"
+
+Tad's face took on the stubborn look it always wore when he had
+determined upon a certain course of action.
+
+"I'll beat them yet, even if there are only two of them. I wish there
+weren't two of us on this nag."
+
+"I'll get off and walk," suggested. Stacy.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort. That would be a nice thing to do,
+wouldn't it? They'd round you up quicker'n they could a lame burro."
+
+"Say, Tad."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I've got an idea."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"You know that sage hen we had?"
+
+"Yes, what's that got to do with our present predicament?"
+
+"I was wondering why there aren't any sage roosters?"
+
+"You'll be a sage rooster, with your head off, first thing you know,"
+snapped Tad in disgust. "Can't you be serious for a minute? Don't you
+see we are in a fix?"
+
+"Uh-huh!"
+
+"There, that fellow is trying to head us off."
+
+One of the Indians had shot away from his companion, running obliquely
+toward the point to which Tad was headed.
+
+The red man had gotten quite a start before the boys caught the
+significance of his manoeuvre.
+
+Tad dug in the spurs.
+
+At that instant the fat boy's hands had been removed from Tad, to
+whose body they had been clinging.
+
+The pony leaped forward, and Stacy slid over its rump, hitting the
+ground with a jolt that jarred him.
+
+"Wow!" howled Stacy.
+
+Tad, instantly divining what had happened, pulled up sharply; wheeled
+and raced back to where his companion was still complaining loudly and
+rubbing his body.
+
+"Get up!" roared Tad, leaning over and grasping Stacy by the hair of
+his head.
+
+The fat boy was jerked sharply to his feet.
+
+"Quick! Quick, climb up here!"
+
+With the help of his companion, the lad scrambled up behind Tad again,
+muttering and rubbing himself.
+
+By this time the leading horseman had wholly outdistanced them, and
+his pony was now loping along easily, while the second Indian appeared
+to be riding directly toward them, at right angles to the direction in
+which they were traveling.
+
+All at once the two Indians began riding about the boys in a circle,
+uttering short little "yips," intended to terrify the lads, but not
+loud enough to be heard any great distance away.
+
+"Hang on! We're going to ride for keeps now!" warned Tad.
+
+The fat boy threw both arms about his companion's waist as the pony
+let out into a swift run. At first Tad thought he had gotten safely
+out of the circle, only to discover that they had headed him again.
+
+The circle was narrowing, and the Indians were gradually drawing in on
+them.
+
+Stacy's eyes were growing larger every minute, perhaps more from
+astonishment than from fear. Then, too, he could not but admire the
+riding of their pursuers. Even the blankets of the Indians appeared
+not to be disturbed in the least by their rapid riding, the horsemen
+sitting a little sideways on the ponies' backs, the reins bunched
+loosely in their left bands.
+
+"They've got us, Tad."
+
+"They shan't get us!" retorted Tad stubbornly. "If they don't use
+their guns--and I don't believe they will--we'll beat them yet."
+
+If Stacy was doubtful he did not say so.
+
+"If they get close to us, you be ready to let go of me when I give the
+word," cautioned Tad.
+
+"What for? What you going to do?"
+
+"I don't know yet. That depends upon circumstances. I'm not going to
+let them have it all their own way while I've got a pony under me. We
+may get help any minute, too, so the longer we can put off a clash the
+better it will be for us."
+
+"Who you mean--Santa Claus?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"They're closing in now," said Stacy.
+
+"Take your hands away from my waist."
+
+"But I'll fall off, Tad."
+
+"Slip one hand through under my belt and take hold of the cantle with
+the other. Sit as low as you can so as not to get in my way."
+
+Stacy obeyed his companion's directions without further comment, but
+he was all curiosity to know what was going to happen next.
+
+The Indians were drawing nearer every second now. The boys could see
+the expressions on their evil faces, intensified by the streaks of
+yellow and red paint.
+
+"They look as though they'd stuck their heads in a paint pail," was
+Chunky's muttered comment.
+
+The blankets fell away from the racing savages, flapped on the rumps
+of the bobbing ponies for a few seconds and then slipped to the
+ground.
+
+A rifle was reposing in each man's holster, as Tad observed instantly.
+He was thankful to note that the guns were not in the hands of the
+Indians.
+
+The lad's right hand had dropped carelessly to the saddle horn, the
+fingers cautiously gathering in the coils of the lariat that hung
+there. The red men did not appear to have observed his act.
+
+"Lie low!" commanded Tad, scarcely above a whisper.
+
+Stacy settled down slowly so as not to attract attention.
+
+One horseman shot directly across Tad's course, striking the lad's
+pony full in the face as he did so, and causing the animal to brace
+himself so suddenly as to nearly unseat both boys.
+
+Tad's rope was in the air in a twinkling.
+
+A warning shout from the second Indian, who was just to the rear of
+them, came too late. The rope shot true to its mark and the first
+savage, with back half-turned, had failed to observe it coming.
+
+The great loop dropped over his head. The pony braced itself and Tad
+took a quick turn of the rope about the pommel of his saddle.
+
+The result was instantaneous. The Indian was catapulted from his
+saddle with arms pinioned to his aide.
+
+"Ye-ow!" howled Chunky; unable to restrain his enthusiasm.
+
+Tad did not even hear him.
+
+"Look out! Here comes the other one!" warned the fat boy.
+
+But Tad was too busily engaged in keeping the line taut about the
+roped Indian. The fellow was struggling on the ground, fighting to
+free himself, while the boy with the rope was manoeuvring his pony in
+a series of lightning-like movements that made the fat boy's head
+swim.
+
+"Take care of him, Chunky!! I can't," gasped Tad.
+
+Stacy's eyes took on a belligerent expression as the second savage
+bore down upon them, with knees gripped tightly against the side of
+his pony, half raising himself above the animal's back, reins dropped
+on the pony's neck. The Indian was guiding his mount by the pressure
+of legs and knees alone.
+
+The angry redskin was making futile attempts to get into a position
+where he might grab the active Tad. He did not seem to take into
+account the cringing figure behind the boy who had roped the other
+Indian.
+
+All at once, at the opportune moment, his pony forging ahead, the
+Indian's hand shot out. The red, bony fingers were closing upon Tad
+Butler's right shoulder, when all at once something happened.
+
+The cringing fat boy rose. The right hand that had been clinging to
+the cantle was launched out. His body, thrown forward at the same
+time, lent the blow added force.
+
+Chunky's fist came into violent contact with the Indian's jaw. Mr.
+Redman disappeared from the back of his pony so quickly that, for a
+second, Stacy could scarcely believe his eyes.
+
+"Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!" howled the fat boy. "Beat it for the tall grass,
+Tad!"
+
+A quick glance behind him, revealed the true state of affairs to Tad
+Butler. He dug in the spurs, clinging to the lariat for a few feet,
+then suddenly releasing it, as the pony leaped away under the stinging
+pressure of the spurs.
+
+"Duck! Duck! They're going to shoot!" shouted Tad.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HIT BY A DRY STORM
+
+
+"There it goes! Lower, Chunky!"
+
+A rifle had crashed somewhere to the left of them.
+
+Stacy's curiosity getting the better of him, he had twisted his body
+around, and was peering back; but he was bobbing up and down so fast
+that he found it difficult to fix his eyes on any one point long
+enough to distinguish what that object was.
+
+"Look! Look!" he cried, when in a long rise of the pony his eyes had
+caught something definite.
+
+The roped Indian was running for his pony, which he caught, leaping to
+its back and dashing away madly.
+
+"Hold up! Hold up! There's something doing," shouted the fat, boy.
+
+Tad swerved a little, turning to his left. Rifles were banging, and
+the dust was spurting up under the feet of the savage's racing pony.
+
+By this time, the second Indian had recovered from the blow that Stacy
+had landed on his jaw, and he too was in his saddle in a twinkling,
+tearing madly cross the plain.
+
+Stacy Brown uttered a series of wild whoops and yells. He knew their
+assailants were running and that some one was shooting at the Indians,
+but who it was the fat boy could only guess.
+
+Two ponies suddenly dashed out from the low-lying smoke cloud. One of
+their riders was swinging his sombrero and cheering; the other was
+firing his rifle after the fleeing savages.
+
+"Hooray, it's Santa Claus," howled Stacy, fairly beside himself with
+excitement. Even Tad caught something of his companion's spirit of
+enthusiasm. He swung his hand and started galloping toward the two
+horsemen.
+
+"Shoot 'em! Kill 'em!" howled Chunky.
+
+But Santa Claus merely shook his head, and after refilling the
+magazine of his rifle slipped it into the holster.
+
+"It would only make trouble and probably cause an uprising if I did.
+They know I could have winged them both had I wanted to," he grinned.
+"Well, you boys are a sight."
+
+"I--I lost my shirt," interjected Stacy.
+
+"And I suppose you fell in," chuckled Ned.
+
+"No; I fell off."
+
+"We're lucky to be alive," laughed Tad.
+
+"You are that. I see now that Professor Zepplin was right when he said
+you could take care of yourself. Never saw anything quite so slick as
+the way you roped that redskin--"
+
+"And--and I punched the other one," glowed Chunky.
+
+"Did you see us?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Yes, we saw the whole proceeding. But you were so mixed up that we
+couldn't fire without danger of hitting one of you boys. Wonder what
+those Apaches think struck them," laughed the guide. "How did you get
+through the fire?"
+
+Tad explained briefly; at the same time accounting for the loss of
+Stacy's shirt.
+
+"I bet that the fellow with the canary-wing face has a sore jaw,"
+bubbled Stacy.
+
+"No doubt of it, Master Stacy. I didn't suppose you had such a punch
+as that. You're a good Indian fighter."
+
+"Always was," answered the fat boy, swelling with importance.
+
+"Come, we'll have to hurry back It will be dark before we reach camp,
+as it is, and the Professor will be worrying about you."
+
+They turned about, and, heading across the burned area, started for
+camp. Fitful blazes were springing up here and there, but all danger
+had, by this time, passed, though the smoke still hung heavy and the
+odor of burned vegetation smote the nostrils unpleasantly.
+
+Stacy sniffed the air suspiciously.
+
+"Tastes like a drug store fire I smelled once in Chillicothe," he
+averred.
+
+"I haven't made up my mind, yet, how that fire started, Mr. Kringle,"
+wondered Tad.
+
+"I have," replied the guide tersely.
+
+"How?"
+
+"It was set afire!"
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By one of those savages, or by somebody who was with them. They must
+have been watching you all the time. Did you recognize either of them
+as the fellow you knocked down the other might?"
+
+"No; I don't think I would know the Indian. The light was too
+uncertain at the fire dance, and then again, all Indians look alike to
+me."
+
+"It was a narrow escape."
+
+"Do you think they'll come back again?" questioned Ned.
+
+"I doubt it. They won't if they recognized me. They know me. They've
+done business with me before."
+
+Professor Zepplin and Walter were overjoyed when at last the party
+rode into camp and they learned that both boys were safe. The lads
+were obliged to go all over their experiences again for the benefit of
+the Professor and Walter.
+
+"It's getting worse and worse," decided the Professor helplessly. "I
+don't know where all this is going to end. I thought when we got a new
+guide--but what's the use? Do you think we had better start to-night,
+Mr. Kringle?"
+
+"No. There is no necessity."
+
+"What am I going to do for a pony?" asked Chunky.
+
+"You can ride one of mine. I always take two when on a long journey,"
+replied the guide.
+
+Chunky's first act after reaching camp, was to provide himself with a
+shirt. After donning it, he announced that he had an appetite and
+wanted to know when they were going to have supper.
+
+"Why, you had supper hours ago," scoffed Ned. "Want another one
+already?"
+
+"That wasn't supper, that was four o'clock tea. Indian fighters must
+have real food."
+
+"Stop teasing. We'll give the 'ittle baby his milk," returned Ned.
+
+That night, Kris Kringle remained on guard himself. He would not trust
+the guardianship of the camp to any of the boys, for he fully expected
+that they would receive a visit from one or more of the Indians,
+though he did not tell the others so. But nothing occurred to disturb
+the camp, and the boys, despite their trying experiences, slept
+soundly, awakening in the morning fresh and active, ready and anxious
+for any further adventures.
+
+The party set out shortly after sunrise, and traveled all day across
+the uneven plains, across short mountain ranges, through deep gorges
+and rugged foothills.
+
+Crossing an open space the guide espied a bottle glistening in the
+sunlight.
+
+"There's a bottle," pointed the guide. "Want it?"
+
+Stacy glanced at it indifferently;
+
+"What do I want of a bottle?"
+
+"Then I'll take it," decided the guide, dismounting and stowing the
+abandoned piece of glass in his saddle bags.
+
+"Bottles are good for only two things."
+
+"And what are they, Master Stacy?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"To keep things in and to shoot at," replied the fat boy wisely.
+
+Everybody laughed at that.
+
+"I guess that embodies everything you can say about bottles," smiled
+the Professor. "Your logic, at times, young man, is unassailable."
+
+Chunky nodded. He had a faint idea of what Professor Zepplin meant.
+
+Late that afternoon the travelers came upon a shack in the foothills,
+where an old rancher, a hermit, lived when not tending his little
+flock of sheep, most of which, Kris Kringle said, the old man had
+stolen from droves that came up over the trail going north.
+
+He was an interesting old character, this hermit, and the boys decided
+that they would like to make camp and have him take supper with them.
+This the Professor and the guide readily agreed to, for everyone was
+hot and dusty and the bronchos were nervous and ill-natured.
+
+The boys found the old rancher talkative enough on all subjects save
+himself. When Chunky asked him where he came from, and what for, the
+old man's face flushed angrily.
+
+At the first opportunity the guide took the fat boy aside for some
+fatherly advice.
+
+"In this country it isn't good policy to be too curious about a man's
+family affairs. He's likely to resent it in a way you won't like. Most
+fellows out here have reasons for being out of the world, beyond
+what's apparent on the surface."
+
+Chunky heeded the advice and asked no more personal questions for the
+next hour, though he did forget himself before the evening was ended.
+
+"You seem to be having pretty dry weather down here," said the
+Professor, by way of starting the old man to talking.
+
+"Yep. Haven't had any rain in this belt fer the last two years."
+
+"Two years!" exclaimed the boys.
+
+"Yep. Had a few light dews, but that's all," replied the hermit.
+
+"Looks to me as if you were going to get some to-night," announced
+Tad.
+
+"Reckon not."
+
+"Then I'm no judge of weather."
+
+Even as Tad spoke there was a low muttering of thunder, and the far
+lightning flashed pale and green, and rose on the long horizon to the
+southwest.
+
+Kris Kringle heard the far away growl. Springing up, he began staking
+down the tents.
+
+"That's a good idea. We lost our whole outfit on our last trip. Think
+they'll stand a blow?"
+
+"I guess they will when I get through with them. Have we any more
+stakes in camp?"
+
+"There should be some in the kit."
+
+Tad searched until he found several more stakes, and with these and
+the emergency ropes, they made the tents secure.
+
+By the time they had done so, the heavens had grown black and
+menacing. They could see the storm sweeping down on them. It was a
+magnificent sight, and the lads were so lost in observing its grandeur
+that they forgot to feel any alarm.
+
+A cloud of dust accompanied the advance guard of the storm.
+
+"Reckon there ain't any rain in them clouds," commented the old man.
+"There's plenty of the other thing, though."
+
+"What's the other thing?" questioned Chunky.
+
+"Lightning."
+
+Even as he spoke a bolt descended right in the center of the camp,
+tearing a hole in the earth and hurling a cloud of dirt and dust many
+feet up into the air.
+
+The force of the explosion knocked some of the party flat.
+
+Chunky picked himself up and carefully brushed his clothes; then,
+solemnly walked out and sat down on the spot where the lightning had
+struck.
+
+"Here, here! What are you doing out there?" demanded the guide.
+
+"Sitting on the lightning."
+
+"You come in here! And quick, at that!"
+
+"Huh! Guess I know what I'm doing. Lightning never strikes twice in
+the same place. I'm--"
+
+By this time Kris Kringle had the fat boy by the collar, hustling him
+to the protection of one of the tents.
+
+No sooner had they reached it than a crash that seemed as if it had
+split the earth wide open descended upon them. Balls of fire shot off
+in every direction. One went right through the tent where they were
+huddled, hurling the Pony Rider Boys in a heap.
+
+They scrambled up calling to each other nervously.
+
+The shock had extinguished the lantern that hung in the tent. The
+guide relighted it, and, stepping outside to see what had happened,
+pointed to the place where Chunky had been sitting but a few minutes
+before.
+
+The bolt had struck in the identical spot where the previous one had
+landed.
+
+"Now, young man, there's an object lesson for you," Mr. Kringle said,
+with a grim smile.
+
+"And there's another!" replied Chunky, pointing to the outside of the
+tent.
+
+There lay the old rancher, whose absence they had not noted. He had
+been in the tent with them when they last saw him and how he had
+gotten out there none knew. The rancher had been stripped of every
+vestige of clothing by the freaky lightning.
+
+"He's dead," crooned Stacy solemnly.
+
+"Get water, quick! He's been struck by lightning!" commanded the
+guide, making systematic efforts to bring the old man back to
+consciousness.
+
+Stacy ran for the water-bags.
+
+"I am afraid it is useless, Mr. Kringle," warned, the Professor,
+failing to find a pulse. The boys were standing about fanning the
+victim, having one by one dumped the contents of their canteens in his
+face.
+
+Stacy returned with a water-bag after a little.
+
+"I--I--I've got an idea," he exploded, as with eyes wide open he
+attempted to tell them something.
+
+"Keep still. We've got something else to do besides listening to your
+foolishness," chided Ned.
+
+"Chunky, we're trying to save this man's life. Give me that bag,"
+commanded Tad.
+
+The two older men were working desperately on the patient. Stacy stood
+around, fidgeting a little, but making no further attempt to enlighten
+them as to what his new idea was.
+
+After a time the rancher began to show signs of recovering. He gasped
+a few times then opened his eyes.
+
+"What kicked me?" he asked, with a half-grin.
+
+They could all afford to laugh now, and they did. The rancher refused
+their offer of clothes, saying he had another suit in his shack.
+
+"That's twice the stuff has knocked me out. Next time it'll git me for
+keeps," he said.
+
+"Does it strike here very often?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Allus."
+
+"Then, there must be some mineral substance in the soil."
+
+"No, ain't nothing like that. Jest contrariness that's all. Hit my
+shack once, and 'cause 'twas raining, bored holes in the roof so the
+place got all wet inside."
+
+"But it isn't raining now. Doesn't it usually rain when you have a
+thunder storm here?" asked the Professor.
+
+"No. Ain't had no rain in nigh onto two year," the hermit reiterated.
+
+"You'd better go and put on some clothes," suggested Kris Kringle.
+
+"Guess that's right."
+
+The old man seemed to have forgotten his condition. The others had
+wrapped a blanket around him, which seemed to satisfy his demand for
+clothes. Gathering up the blanket he strolled leisurely toward his
+cabin, undisturbed by his recent experience.
+
+"Nothing like getting used to it," chuckled Stacy.
+
+"Hello, now we'll hear what your new idea is, Chunky?" jeered Ned.
+
+"Yes, what is it?" urged Tad.
+
+"Nothing much."
+
+"Never is," cut in Walter Perkins, a little maliciously.
+
+"I--I got an idea the ponies tried to kick holes in the lightning."
+
+Everybody laughed loudly. They could well afford to laugh, now that
+the danger had passed.
+
+"What makes you think that?" asked the guide, eyeing him sharply.
+
+"'Cause they're dead!"
+
+"What!" shouted the boys.
+
+All hands dashed from the tent, Stacy regarding them with soulful
+eyes, after which he surreptitiously slipped a biscuit into his pocket
+and strolled out after them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+CHUNKY'S NEW IDEA
+
+
+Three of the ponies, they found, had been knocked down and so severely
+shocked that they were only just beginning to regain consciousness.
+
+"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Ned, turning on Stacy savagely.
+
+"You wouldn't let me. Maybe next time I've got an idea, you'll stop
+and listen."
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore a broad grin.
+
+"Master Stacy is right. He tried hard enough to tell us," he said.
+
+Chunky was humming blithely as the party set out next morning. He was
+pretty well satisfied with himself, for had he not been through a
+prairie fire, knocked a savage Apache off his horse, saved himself and
+his companions, besides having just escaped from being struck by
+lightning? Stacy swelled out his chest and held his chin a little bit
+higher than usual.
+
+"Chunky's got a swelled head," said Ned, nodding in the direction of
+the fat boy.
+
+"Swelled chest, you mean," laughed Walter. "Nobody has a better right.
+Chunky isn't half as big a fool as he'd have everybody believe. When
+we think we are having lots of fun with him he's really having sport
+with us. And those Indians--say, Ned, do you think they will bother
+us any more?"
+
+"Ask Chunky," retorted Ned. "He's the oracle of the party."
+
+"I will," answered Walter, motioning for Stacy to join them, which the
+latter did leisurely. "We want to know if you think we've seen the
+last of the Apaches? Will they bother us any more?"
+
+The fat boy consulted the sky thoughtfully.
+
+"I think there's some of them around now," he replied.
+
+"What?"
+
+Stacy nodded wisely.
+
+"Santa Claus ought to have shot them."
+
+"Why, you cold-blooded savage!" scoffed Ned. "The idea!"
+
+"You'll see. I'd have done it, myself, if I'd had my gun," declared
+Stacy bravely.
+
+"Good thing for you that your gun was in camp, instead of in your
+holster."
+
+"Yes; I'd have lost the gun when the pony went down. Poor pony! Say,
+Walt," he murmured, leaning over toward his companion.
+
+"Well, out with it!"
+
+"This pony of Santa Claus's can jump further than a kangaroo."
+
+"Ever see a kangaroo jump?" sneered Ned.
+
+"No; but I've seen you try to. I'll show you, Walt, when we get a
+chance to go out and have a contest."
+
+"That would be good sport, wouldn't it, Ned?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"A jumping contest!"
+
+"If we didn't break our necks."
+
+"Can't break a Pony Rider Boy's neck. They're too tough," laughed
+Walter, to which sentiment, Stacy Brown agreed with a series of
+emphatic nods.
+
+"Say, Tad," called Walter, "what do you say to our jumping our ponies
+some time to-day?"
+
+Tad grinned appreciatively.
+
+"If the stock isn't too tired when we make camp, I think it would be
+great fun. We haven't had any real jumping contests in a long time."
+
+"Wish we had our stallions here, Tad."
+
+"They're better off at home, Chunky. Altogether too valuable horses
+for this kind of work. I'll speak to the guide."
+
+"Well, what is it, young man?" smiled Kris Kringle.
+
+"If you can find a level place for our camp we want to have a contest
+this afternoon. Professor, will you join us?"
+
+"What kind of a contest?"
+
+"Jumping."
+
+"No, thank you."
+
+"We will camp in the foothills of the Black range. You will find
+plenty of level ground there for your purpose," said the guide.
+
+In order that they might have more time for their games, an early halt
+was called. The first work was to pitch the camp, the ponies being
+allowed to graze and rest in the meantime, after which the lads
+started out on a broad, open plain for their sport.
+
+Their shouts of merriment drifted back to the camp where Kris Kringle
+and Professor Zepplin were setting things to rights and preparing an
+early supper, the sun still being some hours high.
+
+"That's a great bunch of boys, Professor."
+
+"Great for getting into difficulties."
+
+"And for getting out of them."
+
+"I'll put them against any other four lads in the world for hunting
+out trouble," laughed the Professor.
+
+The result of the afternoon's sport was a total of several spills and
+numerous black and blue spots on the bodies of the Pony Rider Boys.
+Stacy Brown on Kris Kringle's pony, carried off the honors, having
+taken a higher jump than did any of his companions. Then Stacy did it
+again, after the others had tried--and failed to equal the record.
+
+The games being finished, Tad and Walter rode off to get a closer view
+of some peculiar rock formations that they had discovered in the high
+distance, while Ned and Chunky started slowly for the camp.
+
+The table had been set out in front of the tents when the fat boy and
+his companion came in sight of the camp.
+
+"Whew! but I'm hungry!" announced Stacy Brown.
+
+"But you didn't think of it until you saw the table set, did you?"
+
+"It wasn't the table, it was the shaking up I got back there that made
+me feel full of emptiness."
+
+"Huh!"
+
+"I've got an idea, Ned."
+
+"For goodness' sake, keep it to yourself, then. When you have an idea
+it spells trouble for everybody else around you."
+
+"Bet you I can."
+
+"Can what?" snorted Ned.
+
+"Bet you I can jump the dinner table and you can't."
+
+"Bet you can't."
+
+"Bet I can, and without even knocking a fly off the milk pitcher."
+
+"Go on, you! You try it first, and, if you don't make it, you lose. I
+don't have to try it if I don't want to," agreed Ned, with rare
+prudence.
+
+Chunky was fairly hugging himself with glee, but he took good care
+that Ned Rector did not observe his satisfaction.
+
+"If you don't you're a tenderfoot," taunted Stacy.
+
+"I'll show you who's the tenderfoot. You go ahead and bolt the dinner,
+table and all, if you dare. Now, then!"
+
+Stacy gathered up his reins. There was mischief in his eyes, which
+were fixed on the table, neatly set for the evening meal.
+
+"You start right after me. They'll be surprised to see a procession of
+ponies going over the table, won't they?"
+
+"Somebody'll be surprised. May not be the Professor and Santa Claus,
+though," growled Ned.
+
+Stacy had his own ideas on this question, but he did not confide them
+to his companion.
+
+The fat boy clucked to his pony, and the little animal started off. As
+they moved along, Stacy used the persuasive spurs resulting in a
+sudden burst of speed.
+
+"Come on!" he shouted.
+
+He heard Ned's pony pursuing him.
+
+"Hi-yi-yi-y-e-o-w!" howled the shrill voice of the fat boy.
+
+Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle were sitting at opposite ends of
+the table, with elbows leaning on it, engaged in earnest conversation.
+There had been so much yelling out on the plain ever since the boys
+left camp that the older men gave no heed to this new shout--did not
+even turn their eyes in the direction whence Stacy Brown and his pony
+were sweeping down on them at break-neck speed.
+
+Suddenly the two men started back with a sudden exclamation, as a
+shadow fell athwart the table and a dark form hurled itself through
+the air, while a shrill, "w-h-o-o-p-e-e!" sounded right over their
+heads.
+
+The fat boy cleared the table without so much as disturbing the fly to
+which he had referred when making the arrangement.
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore an expansive grin as he discovered the cause
+of the interruption. But, Professor Zepplin's face reflected no such
+emotion. He was angry. He started to rise, when a second shadow fell
+across the table.
+
+Ned Rector, not to be outdone by his fat little friend, pursed his
+lips tightly, driving his broncho at the dinner table and pressing in
+the spurs so hard, that the pony grunted with anger.
+
+Up went the broncho in a graceful curving leap.
+
+But the pony or its rider had not calculated the distance properly.
+Both rear hoofs went through the table, whisking it off the ground
+from before the astonished eyes of Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle.
+
+Both men drew back so violently that they toppled over backwards.
+
+'Mid the crashing of dishes and the sound of breaking wood, the dinner
+table shot up into the air, while the pony ploughed the ground with
+its nose.
+
+Ned Rector struck the ground some distance farther on; he slid on his
+face for several feet skinning his nose, and filling mouth, eyes and
+nose with dirt.
+
+Then dishes and pieces of table began to rain down on them in a
+perfect shower. A can of condensed milk emptied itself on the head of
+Professor Zepplin, while a hot biscuit lodged inside the collar of
+Santa Claus's shirt.
+
+"Wow! Oh, wow!" howled the fat boy, falling off his pony in the excess
+of his merriment and rolling on the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+IN THE HOME OF THE CAVE DWELLERS
+
+
+Ned Rector sat up just in time to meet the wreck of the descending
+table. Down he went again with Stacy's howls ringing in his ears.
+
+A firm hand jerked Rector free of the debris as Kris Kringle laughing
+heartily hauled Ned to his feet. At the same moment Professor Zepplin
+had laid more violent hands on the fat boy, whom he shook until
+Stacy's howls lost much of their mirth. About this time Tad and Walter
+rode in, having hurried along upon hearing the disturbance in camp.
+
+"Stacy Brown, are you responsible for this?" demanded the Professor
+sternly.
+
+"I'm more to blame than he is," interposed Ned.
+
+"No, I--I had an idea," chuckled Stacy, threatening to break out into
+another howl of mirth.
+
+"Next time you have one, then, you will be good enough to let me know.
+We will tie you up until the impulse to make trouble has passed."
+
+Tad and Walter could not resist a shout of laughter. Kris Kringle was
+not slow to follow the example set by them, and all at once Professor
+Zepplin forgot his dignity, sitting right down amid the wreck and
+laughing immoderately.
+
+Ned washed his face, and when, upon facing them, he exhibited a peeled
+nose and a black eye, the merriment was renewed again.
+
+Supper was a success, in spite of the fact that many of their dishes
+were utterly ruined, as well as some of the provisions. But the lads
+gathered up the pieces and made the best of a bad job. Fortunately
+they carried another folding table that they had had made for their
+trip, and this was soon spread and a fresh meal prepared.
+
+"Well, have you two been getting into difficulties also?" questioned
+the Professor, after they sat down to supper.
+
+"No; we've been exploring, Walter and I," answered Tad.
+
+"Exploring?"
+
+"Yes. We discovered something that I should like to know more about."
+
+"What is that?" asked Kris Kringle, looking up interestedly.
+
+"We were over yonder, close to the mountains, which are straight up
+and down, and half way to the top, we saw three or four queerly-shaped
+rocks that looked like houses or huts. Did you ever see them, Mr.
+Kringle?"
+
+"No; but I think I know what you mean. They must be some of the cave
+dwellings of the ancient Pueblos, or perhaps as far back as the
+Toltecs. They built their homes in caves on the steep rocks for better
+protection against their enemies."
+
+"And nobody ever discovered these before?" questioned. Walter. "How
+queer!"
+
+"Perhaps these dwellings, if such they are, have been seen by many a
+traveler, none of whom had interest enough in the matter to
+investigate. Then again, they may have been fully explored. There's
+not much in this part of the country that prospectors have not looked
+over."
+
+"May we explore these caves, Professor?" asked Tad.
+
+"Please let us?" urged Walter.
+
+"I see no objection if Mr. Kringle will be responsible for you. I
+rather think I'll look into them myself. I'll confess the idea
+interests me. Are they easy to get at?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," answered Tad.
+
+"Santa Claus will show us the way," interrupted Stacy
+enthusiastically.
+
+He was frowned down by the Professor.
+
+"Why not start now?" urged Tad.
+
+The guide consulted the sun.
+
+"We might. It lacks all of three hours to dark."
+
+There was much enthusiasm in camp. The idea that they were to visit
+some unexplored caves, dwellings of an ancient people, filled the lads
+with pleasant expectancy.
+
+Before starting, Mr. Kringle sorted out some strong manila rope and
+several tent stakes all of which he did up into two bundles. Then he
+filled the magazine of his rifle, throwing this over his shoulder.
+
+"What's that for?" questioned Ned.
+
+"The gun?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Can't tell what we may run into in a cave, you know."
+
+After a final look at the camp all hands set out for the place
+indicated by Tad. It was only a short distance, so they decided to
+walk.
+
+Reaching the base of the mountain they gazed up.
+
+"Yes, those are cave dwellings," declared Kris Kringle. "And they are
+still closed. Probably they haven't been opened in two hundred years."
+
+"I'd hate to live there and have to go home in a dark night," mused
+Chunky.
+
+"Yes, how did they get to their houses?" wondered the other boys.
+
+"The question is, how are we going to get near enough to explore them?
+How shall we get up there, Mr. Guide?" asked the Professor.
+
+"We'll find a way. We shall have to climb the mountain, first."
+
+All hands began clambering up the rocks. To do so they were obliged to
+follow along the base of the mountain for some distance before they
+found a place that they could climb.
+
+Reaching the top, the guide examined their surroundings carefully.
+
+"See those little projections of rock slanting down toward the shelf?"
+he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, in the old days they probably felled a tree so it would fall on
+them. The occupants of the cave probably cut steps in the tree trunk
+over which to travel up and down. The tree has rotted away many years
+since."
+
+"And we can't get down, then?"
+
+"We'll find a way, Master Walter. I thought I should be able to make a
+rope ladder that would work, but I see it is not practicable."
+
+"How shall we do it?"
+
+"Try the old way, I guess, Master Tad."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"The tree."
+
+"But there are no trees near here?"
+
+"Yes, there are, a few rods back. We are all strong and I guess we
+shall be able to make a pretty fair pair of steps."
+
+Kris Kringle had brought an axe with him. With this he cut some long,
+straight poles which, he explained, were intended for pike poles such
+as woodsmen use to roll logs. This done, he began industriously
+chopping at the tree after deciding upon the exact position in which
+he desired it to fall.
+
+"It won't reach," declared Chunky, who, with hands in pockets, legs
+spread wide apart, stood looking up at the flaring top of the great
+tree.
+
+The guide stopped chopping long enough to squint at the fat boy.
+
+"It'll reach you all right, if you stay where you are," he said, then
+resumed his vigorous blows.
+
+Stacy promptly took the hint and moved a safe distance away.
+
+"Get from under!" shouted the guide finally. One more blow would send
+the tree crashing downward.
+
+All hands scrambled for safety. One powerful blow from the axe, and
+with a crashing and rending, the great tree began its descent. When it
+struck the onlookers fully expected to see it broken into many pieces,
+but the bushy top, hitting the rocks first, broke the blow, and the
+body of the tree settled down gently without even breaking its bark.
+
+"Fine! Hurrah!" shouted the boys.
+
+"It won't reach to the edge. Going to pull it over?" questioned Stacy.
+
+"Not exactly, but we're going to get it there. Perhaps we shall not
+have it in place in time to explore the caves to-night, but we shall
+be ready to do so early in the morning. It took our friends longer to
+do this job, two hundred years or more ago, than it will take us. We
+have better tools to work with."
+
+"And better bosses," suggested Stacy.
+
+Some little time was consumed in chopping the tree loose from its
+stump, after which the guide worked the pike poles under the trunk at
+intervals near the base. The others watched these operations with
+interest.
+
+"Now here is where you young gentlemen will have a chance to show how
+strong you are. Each one grab a pike pole," Kringle directed.
+
+"Shan't I go hold the top down?" asked Stacy.
+
+"You just grab a pike pole and get busy!" laughed Mr. Kringle.
+
+"Can't get out of work quite so easy as you thought," scoffed Ned.
+"This is where we make you earn your supper."
+
+"I don't have to earn it. Had it already."
+
+"There are other meals coming," smiled the Professor.
+
+"Now, heo--he!"
+
+All raised on the pike poles at the same time with the result that the
+tree was forced down the gentle incline several feet. This was
+repeated again and again, the boys pausing to cheer after every lift.
+
+The tree being now perilously near the edge of the cliff Kris Kringle
+called a halt. Next he fastened a rope around the top and another
+around the base, taking a turn around a rock with each. One boy was
+placed on each rope, the others at the pike poles, while the guide
+stood at the edge giving directions.
+
+The tree trunk gently slipped over under his guidance and a few
+minutes later rested on the projecting rocks, that were just high
+enough to hold it in place.
+
+"Wouldn't take much to send it over, but I guess it will be perfectly
+safe," he mused.
+
+"May we go down now?" cried the boys.
+
+"No; I'll make some steps first."
+
+He did so with the axe, chopping out scoop-shaped places for steps,
+until finally he had reached the rock in front of the cave dwellings.
+
+The tree lay at an easy slope, its bushy top partly resting on the
+ledge, the latter being some eight feet deep by ten feet wide.
+
+Running up the log Mr. Kringle made another rope fast at the top,
+throwing the free end over.
+
+"Hold on to the rope while you are going down and you'll be in no
+danger of falling," he warned.
+
+The boys scrambled down the tree like so many squirrels, the Professor
+following somewhat more cautiously.
+
+The explorers found themselves not more than twenty feet from the
+ground.
+
+"Not much of a door yard. Where's the garden?" wondered Stacy, looking
+about him curiously.
+
+The entrance to the cave dwelling was blocked by a huge boulder, that
+completely filled the opening. How it had been gotten there none could
+say. The only possible explanation was that the boulder had been found
+on the shelf and applied to the purpose of protecting the cave
+dwellers' home.
+
+"Now we're here, we can't get in," grumbled Ned.
+
+"Nothing is impossible," answered Kris Kringle.
+
+"Except one thing."
+
+"What's that, Master Ned?"
+
+"To hammer the least little bit of sense into the head of my friend,
+Chunky Brown."
+
+"You don't have to, that's why," retorted Stacy quickly. "It has all
+the sense it'll hold, now."
+
+"I guess that will be about all for you, Ned," laughed Walter. "At
+least, Chunky didn't foul the dinner table when he jumped it."
+
+The guide, in the meantime, was experimenting with the boulder,
+inserting a pike pole here and there in an effort to move the big
+stone. It remained in place as solidly as if it had grown there.
+
+"There's some trick about the thing, I know, but what it is gets me.
+Better stand back, all of you, in case it comes out all of a sudden,"
+Mr. Kringle warned them.
+
+All at once the boulder did come out, and it kept on coming.
+
+"Look out!" bellowed the guide.
+
+"Low bridge!" howled Stacy, hopping to one side and crouching against
+the rocks.
+
+The guide had sprung nimbly to one side as well. The big rock had
+popped out like a pea from a pod. Instead of stopping, however, it
+continued to roll on toward the edge.
+
+"Hug the rocks! She's going down!" shouted the guide.
+
+Go down it did, with a crash that seemed to shake the mountain.
+Rolling to the edge of the shelf, it had toppled over, taking a large
+strip of shelving rock with it.
+
+"Wow!" howled Chunky;
+
+The other boys uttered no sound, though their faces were a little more
+pale than usual.
+
+Kris Kringle stepped to the edge, peering over.
+
+"No one will get that up here again, right away," he said.
+
+"The cave, the cave!" shouted Walter.
+
+Everyone turned, gazing half in awe at the dark opening that the
+removal of the stone had revealed--an opening that had been closed
+for probably more than two centuries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+FACING THE ENEMY'S GUNS
+
+
+"Do we go in?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Wait, I'll get some light inside first," answered the prudent guide.
+"Can't tell whether we shall want to go in or not."
+
+He built up a small fire within, then called to the others that they
+might enter. They crowded in hastily, finding themselves in a fairly
+large chamber, at the far end of which was a sort of natural alcove in
+the rocks.
+
+The remnants of a fire still lay at one side, where the last meal of
+the ancient dweller had probably been cooked. Several crude looking
+utensils lay about, together with a number of pieces of ancient
+pottery.
+
+"This is, indeed, a rare find!" exclaimed the Professor, carrying the
+precious jars out into the light for closer examination.
+
+Chunky, about that time, pounced upon an object which proved to be a
+copper hatchet.
+
+"Hurray for George Washington!" he shouted, brandishing the crude
+tool. "The man who never told--"
+
+"We've heard that before," objected Ned. "Give us something new,
+Chunky, if you've got to talk."
+
+The Professor came in, searching for other curios just as Stacy went
+out to examine his "little axe," as he was pleased to call it. He
+tried the edge of it on the ledge to find out if the stone would dull
+it, but it did not.
+
+"I'll use that to cut nails and wire with when I get back home,"
+decided the boy. "Guess I'll chop my name in the side of the mountain
+here." Stacy proceeded to do so, the others being too much engrossed
+in their explorations to know or care what he was about. He succeeded
+very well, both in making letters on the wall and in putting several
+nicks in the edge of his new-found hatchet.
+
+He was thus engaged when all at once something struck the axe hurling
+it from his hand. At the same instant a rifle crashed off somewhere
+below and to the southeast of him.
+
+"Ouch!" exclaimed the fat boy holding his hand. "Wonder who did that?"
+His mind had not coupled the shot with the blow on the hatchet.
+
+Bang!
+
+A bullet flattened itself close to his head, against the rock.
+
+With a howl, the lad threw himself down on the ledge.
+
+At that instant Kris Kringle sprang to the opening of the cave.
+
+"What does this mean?" he snapped.
+
+"I don't know. Somebody knocked the axe out of my hand then shot at
+me."
+
+The guide discovered the trouble right there. A bullet snipped his hat
+from his head; and, striking the ceiling of the cave-home, dropped to
+the floor with a dull clatter.
+
+Kris Kringle ducked with amazing quickness. Crawling back into the
+cave, he reached for his own rifle and then sought the opening, taking
+good care not to expose himself to the fire of the unseen enemy.
+
+Stacy, on his part, had lost no time in getting to a place of safety
+inside, though he was prudent enough to crawl instead of getting up
+and walking in.
+
+"What does this mean? It can't be possible that anyone is deliberately
+shooting at us?" questioned Professor Zepplin in undisguised
+amazement.
+
+"If you doubt it step outside," suggested Kris Kringle. "Master Stacy
+and myself know what they tried to do, don't we, lad?"
+
+"We do."
+
+The fat boy again swelled with importance.
+
+"Look out you don't swell up so big you'll break your harness," warned
+Ned.
+
+"Better break it than have it shot off," mumbled Stacy.
+
+"Who can it be?"
+
+"I can't say, Professor."
+
+"It's our friends from the fire dance," was Tad's expressed
+conviction.
+
+"Told you they'd be here," nodded Chunky. "Why don't you shoot at
+them?"
+
+"Going to, in a minute. Got to find out where they are first."
+
+Now the lads were excited in earnest. Some one was shooting at them,
+and the guide was going to fire back. This was more than they had
+expected when they visited the home of the cave-dweller.
+
+"Let me take a crack at 'em," begged Chunky. "I owe 'em one."
+
+"Master Stacy, you will do nothing of the sort," reproved the
+Professor sternly. "The idea!"
+
+"No; if there's any shooting to be done I'll do it," announced Kris
+Kringle.
+
+"And Santa Claus isn't shooting with any toy gun, this time," chuckled
+Chunky.
+
+"Can you see the camp, to know if anyone is there?"
+
+"Yes, but only part of it, Professor. I wish you would all get over
+into the right hand corner there and lie flat on the floor. I'm going
+to try to draw their fire so that I can locate them. Can't afford to
+waste ammunition until we are reasonably sure where our mark is."
+
+The others quickly got into the position indicated.
+
+Placing his hat on one of the pike poles, Kringle slowly pushed it
+outside.
+
+There was no result, The ruse failed to draw the enemy's fire.
+
+"Oh, they've gone. We're a lot of babies," jeered Ned, jumping up and
+starting for the opening.
+
+Kris Kringle gave him a push with the butt of the rifle.
+
+"Want, to get shot full of holes? Wait! I'll show you."
+
+The guide sprang up, showing himself out on the ledge for one brief
+instant then throwing himself flat.
+
+A sharp "ping" against the rocks, followed by a heavy report, told the
+story. The guide had been not a second too soon in getting out of
+harm's way, for the bullet would have gone right through him had he
+remained standing.
+
+Quick as a flash Kringle's rifle leaped to his shoulder, and he fired.
+He had taken quick aim at a puff of smoke off toward the camp.
+
+Not content with one shot he raked the bushes all about where the puff
+of smoke had been seen, emptying the magazine of the rifle in a few
+seconds.
+
+Stacy Brown was fairly dancing with glee.
+
+"Did you hit anything?" asked the boys breathlessly.
+
+"Of course, I hit something; but whether I winged an Indian or not, I
+don't know. If I did, he probably is not seriously wounded. You'll
+hear a redskin yell when he's hit bad."
+
+"That one I punched didn't. He was hit hard," volunteered Stacy.
+
+"He didn't have time," grinned Tad. "You were too quick for him."
+
+"Look out! There comes a volley!" warned Mr. Kringle.
+
+The boys, led by the Professor tumbled into the corner in a heap,
+while the lead pattered in through the opening, rattling with great
+force like a handful of pebbles.
+
+"They're getting in a hurry," averred the Professor.
+
+"It's growing dark. They want to finish us before then, so we can't
+play any tricks on them after that. But, if they only knew it, and
+they probably do, they've got us beautifully trapped. One man below
+and another at the other end of our tree would be able to keep us here
+till the springs run dry. If there's only two of them there, as I
+suspect is the case, they may not want to separate. We'll see, the
+minute it gets dark enough so that we can move about without being
+observed."
+
+Some of the sage brush that Kris Kringle had brought down to light up
+the cave lay outside on the ledge. Using one of the poles, he
+cautiously raked the stuff inside, heaping it up not far from the
+entrance.
+
+"What you doing that for?" questioned Stacy, unable to conceal his
+curiosity.
+
+"You'll see, by-and-by, when we get ready to do something else. You
+don't think I'm going to stay here all night, do you?"
+
+There was no further firing on either side, though Mr. Kringle showed
+himself boldly several times.
+
+Finally Tad tried it, and was greeted with a shot the instant he
+appeared in the opening.
+
+"Must be me they're after," he suggested, with a forced grin, falling
+flat on the ledge, and wriggling back into the cave.
+
+The twilight was upon them now. The guide had been able to see the
+flash of the rifle below him, and had taken a quick shot at it when
+the enemy attempted to wing Tad Butler. Kringle had no means of
+knowing whether his shot had been effective or not.
+
+"I'm going to try something else in a few minutes, now," the guide
+told the Professor and the boys, "and I hope you all will do just as I
+tell you."
+
+"You may depend upon our doing exactly that," answered the Professor.
+
+"I am going to crawl out of here. The rest of you remain here until I
+call to you to come out, no matter if it is until morning. After I
+have been gone about ten minutes, light a match and toss it into the
+heap of sage there, but watch out that you don't get into the light.
+Throw the match. You're liable to be shot if you show yourselves."
+
+"Why should we make a fire and thus make targets of ourselves?"
+protested Ned.
+
+"That is to cover Mr. Kringle's retreat," Tad informed them.
+
+"Exactly. Master Tad, you may come along with me if you wish."
+
+Tad jumped at the offer.
+
+"But not a sound. Ask me no questions. Follow a rod or so behind me,
+and walk low down all the time. If you make a mistake it may result
+seriously for you and your friends. And, another thing."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Should there be any shooting, throw yourself on the ground. You will
+not be as likely to be hit there."
+
+"I'll obey orders, sir."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"When do we start?"
+
+"I guess we can do so now, as safely as at any time. The rascals will
+not be likely to be on the mountain just yet, because it is not dark
+enough. Yes; we'll go now."
+
+Tad waited until Kris Kringle had crawled from the cave, then lay down
+on his stomach and wriggled out on the ledge.
+
+There were no signs of the enemy and the camp-fire of the Pony Rider
+Boys glowed dimly down below. Tad, peering off into the gloom, for the
+moon had not yet risen, thought he saw a figure flit by the fire. He
+could not be sure, however. He wished he might tell the guide of his
+fancied discovery; but, remembering the injunction for absolute
+silence, he said nothing.
+
+By this time, Tad's arms were about the log. From the slight vibration
+he knew that Kris Kringle was somewhere between himself and the top,
+yet not a sound did the guide make. Tad made no more, and they would
+have been keen ears, indeed, that could have detected our friends'
+presence by sound alone.
+
+When the lad finally reached the top a hand was laid on his shoulder.
+The touch gave him a violent start in spite of his steady nerves.
+
+"You're all right," whispered the voice of Kris Kringle. "You'd make a
+good Indian. I want to explain something that I didn't wish the others
+to hear."
+
+"Yes?" whispered Tad.
+
+"I have only one shell left in my rifle. That's why I wanted you to go
+along. If, by any chance, the rascals should get me, you lie low.
+They'll make for the cave, as they know, by this time, that there is
+only one rifle in the party. The minute they do, should such an
+emergency arise, slide for the camp and get your gun. You'll know what
+to do with it. It'll be a case of saving the lives of your companions
+if it comes to that."
+
+"I understand," answered Tad bravely; and without a quaver in his
+voice.
+
+"Mind you, I don't think for a minute that it will happen. I can
+handle these fellows if I get the lay of the land. Keep close enough
+to hear me."
+
+"That's not so easy."
+
+"No; but you'll know. When I stop you do the same."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+OUTWITTING THE REDSKINS
+
+
+Kris Kringle moved away without another word. His abrupt departure was
+the signal for the Pony Rider boy to start, which he did instantly.
+
+In a few minutes Tad was skulking along the top of the mountain, when
+he ran into the guide again.
+
+Just then the report of a rifle sounded down below them.
+
+"Are they shooting at us?" whispered Tad.
+
+"No; the boys have lighted the fire in the cave. Our friends down
+below took a pot shot at the blaze. Hope they didn't hit anybody."
+
+"Chunky would be the only one to get in the way, and I imagine the
+others would hold him back."
+
+"Come this way; we'll go down by a different trail. The redskins are
+watching the fire in the cave, but they may be keeping an eye on the
+trail at the same time."
+
+Silently the man and the boy took their way along the rough, uneven
+path, slowly working down into the valley. They soon reached this, for
+the range was low there.
+
+Reaching the foothills, the two scouts once more fell into single
+file, Tad Butler to the rear. He knew that the guide's rifle ahead of
+him was ready for instant use, and at any second now Tad expected to
+see the flash of a gun.
+
+The lad was not afraid, but he was all a-quiver with excitement. This
+stalking an enemy in the dark, not knowing at what minute that enemy
+might make the attack, was not the same as a stand-up fight in broad
+daylight. Tad wondered why the guide had not permitted the rest of the
+party to escape while they had the opportunity. He did not know that
+Kris Kringle fully expected an ambush, nor that two would stand a
+better chance to get through and out-wit the savages than would half a
+dozen of them. The pair had approached nearly to the camp, for which
+the guide was heading, when suddenly a hand was laid on the boy's arm
+in a firm grip. Tad knew the guide had seen or heard something.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"There!"
+
+In the faint light of the camp-fire the lad, gazing where Kris Kringle
+had pointed, was astonished to see a figure seated at their table.
+From his motions it was evident that the intruder was stowing away the
+stolen fool at a great rate.
+
+"Is that one of them?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He'll have indigestion, the way he's eating. Hope he doesn't swallow
+the dishes, too."
+
+"I'm going to find the other one. You crawl as close to the camp as
+you can with safety. If you hear a disturbance, dive for the tents the
+instant that fellow starts. He'll move if he hears any noise. Get a
+gun and hurry to me, but be quiet about it."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Remember your instructions. I may be able to handle both of them, but
+if I don't get the missing one at the first crack I shan't be able to
+take care of them both. You'll have to help me. Got the nerve?"
+
+"I'm not afraid," whispered the boy steadily. "And I've got some
+muscle as well."
+
+"That's evident. I'm off now."
+
+Tad was left alone. This time he could feel the guide's movements, as
+the latter slipped away on the soft earth. But in a moment all sound
+was lost.
+
+"I think I'll crawl up nearer, so as to be handy if anything occurs,"
+decided the lad, creeping along on all fours. He could not see the
+light in the camp now, but he reasoned that the man at the table was
+sitting with his back to it, as near as Tad could judge of direction
+in the dark. The Indian seemed not to fear a surprise.
+
+"That's what comes from overconfidence," grinned the lad.
+
+"I wish I had something to defend myself with," he added after a
+pause.
+
+Tad had no sooner expressed his wish, than his fingers closed over
+some object on the ground. He grasped it with about the same
+hopefulness that a dying man will grasp at a straw.
+
+What he had found was a heavy tent stake, one that Kris Kringle had
+dropped from his bundle on the way to the cliff dweller's home.
+
+The lad breathed a prayer of thankfulness and crept on with renewed
+courage.
+
+He proceeded as far as he dared; then, lay still, listening for the
+noise of the expected conflict between the guide and the other red
+man.
+
+It came. The sound was like that of a body falling heavily.
+
+Once more the Indian at the table turned his head, listening
+inquiringly. He made a half motion to rise, glanced at the table, then
+sat down again and began to eat.
+
+"His appetite has overcome his judgment," grinned Tad. The lad could
+hear the faint sound of conflict somewhere to the rear of him. He was
+getting uneasy and began to fidget.
+
+All at once the red man sprang up, starting on a run, trailing Stacy's
+rifle behind him. He was headed directly for the place where Tad lay
+flattened on the ground, though the lad felt sure his enemy did not
+see him.
+
+But when the Indian suddenly sprang up into the air to avoid stepping
+on the object that lay there, Tad knew that further secrecy was
+useless. The redskin had jumped right over him, dropping Chunky's
+rifle as he leaped. The gun fell on the Pony Rider boy and for a
+second hindered his movements.
+
+But Tad was up like a flash, while the Indian whirled no less quickly,
+knife unsheathed, ready for battle.
+
+This was where Tad's tent stake came in handy. Without it he would
+have been in a much more serious fix. It was bad enough as it was.
+
+Without an instant's hesitation the lad brought the stake down on the
+wrist of the hand that held the knife. The knife fell to the ground,
+while the Indian, with a half-suppressed howl, sprang at the slender
+lad. Though the fellow's wrist was well-nigh useless at that moment,
+he was as full of fight as ever.
+
+Tad stepped nimbly aside and tried to trip his adversary, but the
+Indian was too sharp to be caught that way.
+
+"If he ever gets those arms around me I'm a goner," thought Tad,
+taking mental measure of his antagonist.
+
+Suddenly the Indian swooped down, making a grab for the rifle that he
+had dropped.
+
+As the redskin stooped, Tad hit him a wallop on the head with the tent
+stake. It must have made the savage see a shower of stars.
+
+At least, it staggered him so he was glad to let the weapon remain
+where it was. For a few seconds the air was full of flying legs and
+arms, during which the boy landed three times on the red man, being
+himself unhurt.
+
+Then the Indian succeeded in rushing into a clinch, and Tad found
+himself gripped in those arms of steel. Wriggle and twist as he would
+he could not free himself from their embrace. His adversary, on the
+other hand, found himself fully occupied in holding on to his slippery
+young antagonist, giving him neither time nor opportunity effectually
+to dispose of the slender lad.
+
+Tad was unusually muscular for his years, to which was added no little
+skill as wrestler. The Indian soon discovered both these qualities.
+And, at about that time, the lad was resorting to every trick he knew
+to place the Indian in a position where he could be thrown.
+
+The moment came with disconcerting suddenness, and Mr. Redman uttered
+a loud grunt as he landed on the ground, flat on his back. With a
+spring he lifted himself up, and the next instant he had thrown the
+slight figure of the Pony Rider Boy so heavily that everything about
+Tad grew black. He felt himself going. Then all at once he lost
+consciousness.
+
+When finally he awakened, Tad found a figure still bending over him.
+
+Quick as a flash the boy's arms went up, encircling the neck of the
+man kneeling by him. The next instant the fellow was on his back, with
+Tad sitting on his chest.
+
+"Here, here! What's the matter with you?" gasped a muffled voice,
+which Tad instantly recognized.
+
+"Kris Kringle!" he gasped.
+
+"Yes; and you nearly knocked the breath out of me," grinned the guide,
+struggling to his feet. "Well, you certainly are a whirlwind."
+
+"I--I thought you were the Indian," mattered Tad in a sheepish tone.
+
+"If it had been, there would have been no need for my interference."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Over there, tied up. Both of them are. We'll decide what to do with
+them when we get the party together."
+
+"Tell me what happened," begged Tad.
+
+The other fellow was so busy watching the cave that he forgot to keep
+his ears open. I was able to approach him without being detected. When
+I got near enough I laid the butt of my rifle over his head. No, I
+didn't hurt him much. Just made him curl up on the ground long enough
+to enable me to tie his hands and feet.
+
+"About that time I caught the sound of something going on over here. I
+made a run, suspecting that you were mixing it up with the other
+redskin. Guess I was just in time, too, for he had you down and was
+reaching for something--"
+
+"His knife," nodded Tad. "It's somewhere around here now."
+
+"Well, I gave him the same medicine that I had given the other. Now
+we'd better go and call the others."
+
+"Thank you. I'd have been in a bad fix, if you hadn't come as you
+did."
+
+"So might I, had you not stopped the second one. We're quits then,"
+said the guide, extending his hand, which Tad grasped warmly.
+
+"I'll call the others, if you wish."
+
+"Yes."
+
+Tad ran over to the base of the cliff, and shouted loudly for his
+companions. In half an hour the party had gathered about the camp
+fire, engaged in an animated discussion over the stirring experiences
+of the evening.
+
+It was decided that the Indians should be placed on their ponies, to
+which they were to be tied, with hands free and provisions enough to
+last them until they reached their reservation in the northern part of
+the state.
+
+The guide restored their rifles to them after first taking their
+ammunition and transferring it to his own kit.
+
+"I've wasted nearly that much on you," he said. "And, if ever you ride
+across my trail again, I'll use your own lead on you in a way that
+will stop you. You won't need bullets like these in the Happy Hunting
+Grounds, where you'll be going. Now, git!"
+
+And they did. The redskins rode as if a ghost were pursuing them.
+
+"That's the last, we shall see of those gentlemen," laughed Kris
+Kringle. "To-morrow morning we shall be on our way in peace."
+
+But the trail of the Pony Rider Boys was not to be all peace. Before
+them--ere they reached the end of the Silver Trail--they were to
+find other thrilling experiences awaiting them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+TILTING FOR THE SILVER SPURS
+
+
+Their journey led the young horsemen across the plains, over low-lying
+ranges, across broad, barren table-lands and down through the bottom
+lands until the wide sweep of the Rio Grande River at last lay before
+them.
+
+After the weeks of arid landscape the sight of water, and so much of
+it, brought a loud cheer from the Pony Rider Boys. The next thing was
+to find a fording place. This they did late in the afternoon of the
+same day, and their further journey took them to the little desert
+town of Puraje.
+
+They camped on the outskirts of the village.
+
+"Here's where we get a real bath. Who's going in swimming with me?"
+asked Tad.
+
+"I am," shouted all the boys at once.
+
+The Professor and Kris Kringle concluded that they, too, would take a
+dip, and a merry hour was spent in a protected cove of the big river,
+where the boys proved themselves as much at home as they were in the
+saddle.
+
+In the evening, they purchased such supplies as the town afforded. The
+night passed with-out disturbance, the boys taking up their journey
+next morning before the sleepy town had awakened.
+
+It was a week later, when, tired and dusty, the outfit pulled up at La
+Luz, a quaint hamlet nestling in the foothills of the Sacramento
+Mountains. The place they found to be largely Mexican, and it was
+almost as if the visitors had slipped over the border to find
+themselves in Mexico itself.
+
+Decorations were in evidence on all sides; bright-colored mantillas,
+Indian blankets and flags were everywhere.
+
+"Hello, I guess something is going on here," laughed Tad.
+
+"We are in time, whatever it is," nodded the guide. "Probably it's a
+feast of some kind. You will be interested in it, if that is what it
+is."
+
+The feast, they learned, was to be celebrated on the morrow with
+games, feats of strength and horsemanship.
+
+"Do you think they will let us take part?" asked Tad, as the party
+made camp in the yard of a little adobe church, where they had
+obtained permission to camp.
+
+"I'll see about it," answered the guide. "There may be reasons why it
+would not be best to do so."
+
+"Maybe I can win another rifle," suggested Chunky.
+
+"These people don't give away rifles. They're too--too--what do you
+call it?--too artistic. That's it."
+
+The camp being on the main street of the village, attracted no little
+attention. After sundown, crowds of gayly bedecked young people
+strolled up and stood about the church yard, watching the American
+boys pitching their tents and preparing for their stay over night.
+
+The villagers were especially interested in watching the boys get
+their supper, which was served up steaming hot within fifteen minutes
+after preparations had begun. Chunky had bought several pies at the
+store, which, with a pound of cheese brought in by Ned, made a
+pleasant change in the daily routine.
+
+Chunky started in on the pie.
+
+Ned calmly reached over and took it away from him; then the supper
+went along until it came time for the dessert, when Chunky fixed his
+eyes on the cheese suspiciously.
+
+"See anything wrong with that cheese?" demanded Ned.
+
+"No, but I've got an idea."
+
+"Out with it! You won't rest easy until you do. What's your idea?"
+
+"I was thinking, if I had a camera, I could make a motion picture of
+that cheese. I heard of a fellow once--"
+
+"That will do, Master Stacy," warned Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Can't I talk?"
+
+"Along proper lines--yes."
+
+"Cheese is proper, isn't it?"
+
+"Depends upon how old it is," chuckled Tad.
+
+"You needn't make fun of my cheese. Here give it to me; I'll eat it."
+
+"You're welcome to it, Ned," laughed the boys.
+
+The fun went on, much to the amusement of the villagers, who remained
+near by until the evening was well along and the lads began preparing
+for bed. Next morning the visitors began coming in to town early.
+There were men from the ranches, Mexican ranch-hands arrayed in bright
+colors and displaying expensive saddle trimmings. There were others
+from the wild places on the desert, far beyond the water limits, whose
+means of livelihood were known only to themselves.
+
+It was a strange company, and one that appealed considerably to the
+curiosity of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+The early part of the day was given over to racing, roping, gambling
+and other sports in which the lads were content to take no part. But
+there was an event scheduled for the afternoon that interested Tad
+more than all the rest. That was a tilting bout, open to all comers. A
+tilting arch had been erected in the middle of the main street, and
+had been decorated with flags and greens.
+
+The tilting ring, suspended from the top of the arch, was not more
+than an inch in diameter. The horseman who could impale it on his
+tilting peg and carry the ring away with him the greatest, number of
+times, would be declared the winner. Each one was to be given five
+chances.
+
+The prize, a pair of silver spurs, was to be presented by the belle of
+the town, a dark-eyed senorita.
+
+The guide had entered Tad in this contest; but, as the lad glanced up
+at the ring only an inch in diameter, he grew rather dubious. He never
+had seen any tilting, and did not even know how the sport was
+conducted.
+
+Kris Kringle gave the lad some instructions about the method employed
+by the tilters, and Tad decided to enter the contest.
+
+Only ten horsemen entered, most of these being either Mexicans or
+halfbreeds.
+
+The first trial over, five of the contestants had succeeded in
+carrying away the ring.
+
+Tad had waited until nearly the last in order to get all the
+information possible as to the way the rest of the contestants played
+the game. A pole had been loaned to him, or rather a "peg," they
+called it, eight feet long, tapered so as to allow it to go through
+the brass ring for fully two feet of its length.
+
+The Pony Rider boy took his place in the middle of the street, and
+without the least hesitancy, galloped down toward the ring, which,
+indeed, he could not even see. When within a few feet of the arch he
+caught the sparkle of the ring.
+
+His lance came up, and putting spurs to his broncho, he shot under the
+arch, driving the point of the peg full at the slender circle. The
+point struck the edge sending the ring swaying like the pendulum of a
+clock.
+
+A howl greeted his achievement. Tad said nothing, but riding slowly
+back, awaited his next trial.
+
+The rule was that when one of the contestants made a strike, he was to
+continue until he failed. He would be allowed to run out five points
+in succession if he could.
+
+"Rest the peg against your side, and lightly," advised a man, as Tad
+turned into the street for another try. The man was past middle age,
+and, though dressed in the garb of a man of the plains, Tad decided at
+once that he was not of the same type as most of the motley mob by
+which he was surrounded.
+
+The lad nodded his understanding.
+
+With a sharp little cry of warning, the boy put spurs to his pony. He
+fairly flew down the course. No such speed had been seen there that
+day. The northern bronchos that the boys were riding were built for
+faster work and possessed more spirit than their brothers of the
+desert.
+
+As he neared the arch, this time, the lad half rose in his stirrups.
+He knew where to look for the ring now. Leaning slightly forward he
+let the point of the peg tilt ever so little. It went through the
+ring, tearing it from its slender fastening and carrying it away.
+
+Loud shouts of approval greeted his achievement.
+
+Once more he raced down the lane, this time at so fast a clip that the
+faces of the spectators who lined the course were a mere blur in his
+eyes.
+
+He felt the slight jar and heard the click as the ring slipped over
+the tilting peg.
+
+"Two," announced the scorer.
+
+He missed the next one. Then the others took their turn. Only one of
+these succeeded in scoring. He was one of the Mexicans who made such a
+brave show of color in raiment and saddle cloth.
+
+"That gives the senor and the boy three apiece. Each has one turn
+left. The others will fall out. If neither scores in his turn, both
+will be ruled out and the others will compete for the prize,"
+announced the scorer.
+
+The Mexican smiled a supercilious smile, as much as to say, "The idea
+of a long-legged, freckle-faced boy defeating me!" The Mexican was an
+expert at the game of tilting as it was practised on the desert.
+
+The man took the first turn. He sat quietly on his pony a moment
+before starting, placing the lance at just the proper angle--then
+galloped at the mark. He, too, rose in his stirrups. The spectators
+were silent.
+
+The ring just missed being impaled on the tilting peg, slipping along
+the pole half way then bounding up into the air.
+
+The spectators groaned. The Mexican had lost.
+
+Now it was Tad's turn.
+
+He rode as if it were an everyday occurrence with him to tilt, only he
+went at it with a rash that fairly took their breath away.
+
+Just as he was about to drive at the ring, some one uttered a wild
+yell and a sombrero hurled from the crowd, struck Tad fairly across
+the eyes.
+
+Of course he lost, and, for a moment, he could not see a thing. He
+pulled his pony to a quick stop and sat rubbing and blinking his
+smarting eyes.
+
+A howl of disapproval went up from the spectators. None seemed to know
+whether the act had been inspired by enthusiasm or malice. Tad was
+convinced that it was the latter. His face was flushed, but the lad
+made no comment.
+
+"You are entitled to another tilt," called the scorer.
+
+To this the Mexican objected loudly.
+
+"Under the circumstances, as my opponent objects, and as we all wish
+to prevent hard feelings, why not give him a chance as well? If he
+wins I shall be satisfied."
+
+A shout of approval greeted Tad's suggestion. This was the real
+sportsman-like spirit, and it appealed to them.
+
+The proposition was agreed to. But again the Mexican lost.
+
+"If the young man is interfered with this time, I shall award the
+prize to him and end the tournament," warned the scorer.
+
+Though Tad's eyes were smarting from the blow of the sombrero, he
+allowed the eyelids to droop well over them, thus protecting them from
+the dust and at the same time giving him a clearer vision.
+
+On his next turn, Tad tore down the narrow lane; he shot between the
+posts like an arrow, and the tilting peg was driven far into the
+narrow hoop, wedging the ring on so firmly that it afterwards required
+force to loosen and remove it.
+
+Without halting his pony, Tad rode on, out a circle and came back at a
+lively gallop, pulling up before the stand of dry goods boxes, where
+the young woman who was to award the prize stood swinging her
+handkerchief, while the spectators set up a deafening roar of
+applause.
+
+Tad was holding the tilting peg aloft, displaying the ring wedged on
+it. He made the young woman a sweeping bow, his sombrero almost
+touching the ground as he did so.
+
+Another shout went up when the handsome spurs were handed to him,
+which the enthusiastic young woman first wrapped in her own
+handkerchief before passing the prize over to him. And amid the din,
+Tad heard the familiar "Oh, Wow! Wow!" in the shrill voice of Stacy
+Brown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE FAT BOY'S DISCOVERY
+
+
+"I saw him! I saw him, Tad!"
+
+"Saw who, Chunky?"
+
+"I tell you, I did. Don't you s'pose I know what my eyes tell me in
+confidence. Don't you to go to contradicting to me."
+
+Stacy had fairly overwhelmed Tad Butler with the importance of his
+discovery; but, thus far, Tad had not the least idea what it was all
+about.
+
+"When you get quieted down perhaps you'll be good enough to tell me
+who it is you saw?"
+
+"The man, the man!"
+
+"Humph! That's about as clear as the water in an alkali sink. What
+man?"
+
+"The one we saw on the train. Don't you know?"
+
+Tad thought a moment.
+
+"You mean the one we heard talking just before we got to Bluewater?"
+Butler had entirely forgotten the incident.
+
+"Yes; that's him! That's him," exploded Stacy.
+
+"You say that fellow--Lasar, that's his name--is he here!"
+
+"Uh-huh."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"He got off the stage down by the postoffice, just when I was coming
+up here."
+
+"Was he alone?"
+
+"The other fellow wasn't with him, if that's what you mean?"
+
+"Yes." Tad went over in his mind the conversation the man Lasar had
+held with his companion, in which the pair were plotting against some
+one by the name of Marquand.
+
+"Oh, well, Chunky, it's none of our concern. I think we must have
+magnified the incident. I--"
+
+"He'll bear watching, Tad. He will and it's muh--muh--you understand
+who's going to do it," declared Chunky, swelling out his chest and
+tapping it with his right fist.
+
+"All right, go ahead," laughed Tad. "It's time some of us get into
+more trouble. The Professor will begin to think we've got a fever, or
+something, if we let two days in succession pass without stirring up
+something."
+
+"I've got an idea," exploded Stacy.
+
+"There you go. It's coming now."
+
+"I'll go tell the policeman."
+
+"Why, you ninny, there are no policemen here. Perhaps there is a
+sheriff. Hello, here comes the gentleman who gave me the advice that
+helped me to win those handsome spurs. He's introducing himself to the
+Professor and Mr. Kringle. Let's go over."
+
+Forgetting for the moment the subject they were discussing, Tad and
+Stacy strolled over to the camp-fire.
+
+"O Tad, this is Mr. Marquand, Mr. James Marquand from Albuquerque. He
+wants to know you. And this is another one of our Pony Rider Boys,
+Master Stacy Brown," said the Professor, presenting his boys.
+
+"Marquand!" exclaimed both boys under their breaths.
+
+"I am glad to know you, Master Butler. That was a very fine piece of
+work you did this afternoon. You've steady nerves."
+
+"If there's any credit due it is to you. Your suggestion helped me to
+win the prize. Without it I should have failed," answered Tad
+generously.
+
+"Which way are you headed?" asked Mr. Marquand.
+
+"Guadalupes," answered the guide. "The boys want to explore some of
+the old pueblos."
+
+"And I also," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I understand there is much
+of interest in them."
+
+"I should say so," muttered their guest.
+
+"I'd like a few moments to speak with you in private, if you can spare
+the time," said Tad in a low voice, at the first opportunity.
+
+"At your service now, sir."
+
+"No; not here."
+
+"Then come to my room at the hotel. I'll fix it with the others," said
+Mr. Marquand, observing at once that the lad had some serious purpose
+in mind.
+
+"My friend Chunky will go with me, if agreeable to you?"
+
+"That's all right. Professor, if you have no objection I should like
+to have these two young men go to my quarters with me for a little
+while. I--"
+
+"Certainly. Don't stay out too late, boys."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Wonder what they've got up their sleeves?" muttered Ned, watching the
+receding figures of his two companions and Mr. Marquand.
+
+"You may talk," smiled the latter after they were well started.
+
+"I'd rather not until we are where we shall not be overheard,"
+answered Tad promptly.
+
+All three fell silent. The boys followed their host to his room,
+apparently without having been observed. The little village was too
+full of its own pleasures to notice.
+
+"Be seated, boys. I take for granted that neither of you smoke?"
+
+"Oh no, sir."
+
+"Now, what can I do for you? I am sure you have something of
+importance to yourselves on your minds."
+
+"Not to us specially. Perhaps to you, though," replied Tad.
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"We may be foolish. If so, you will understand that we have no motive
+beyond a desire to serve you."
+
+"That goes without saying."
+
+"Do you know a man by the name of Lasar--Bob Lasar, Mr. Marquand?"
+
+Mr. Marquand started, eyeing both lads questioningly.
+
+"Yes; he is associated with me in a business venture."
+
+"Told you so," interjected Stacy.
+
+"What of him?"
+
+Tad wished he was well out of it all. To be obliged to tell all he
+knew of Bob Lasar, and to the latter's partner, was rather a
+troublesome undertaking.
+
+Plucking up courage, Tad briefly related all that he and his companion
+had overheard on the train as they were approaching Bluewater to all
+of which their host listened with grave attention and increasing
+interest.
+
+"The incident probably would not have come back to me again but for
+certain things that happened to-day," Tad continued.
+
+"Would either of you know Lasar were you to see him again, do you
+think?"
+
+"My friend Chunky Brown saw him here to-day."
+
+"Saw him get out of the stage in front of this very hotel," nodded
+Stacy.
+
+"You are right. He is here. Mr. Lasar had stopped off at a near-by
+town on a personal matter. Can you describe the man whom you saw with
+him on the train?"
+
+"As I remember him, he was slightly taller than Mr. Lasar, with red
+hair and a moustache of the same shade."
+
+"Yes, that's Joe Comstock. No doubt about that," nodded Mr. Marquand.
+"You didn't hear them say what their plan was, then?"
+
+"Not definitely. Only that they intended to rid themselves of you
+after having obtained possession of your plans for finding the
+treasure, or at least learning where it is hidden."
+
+"Hm-m-m!"
+
+Mr. Marquand sat thoughtfully silent for several minutes, the lines of
+his face growing tense and hard. The boys could see that he was
+exerting, a strong effort to control himself.
+
+"You--you haven't told them your plans?" questioned Tad, in a subdued
+voice.
+
+"No. I was going to do so to-night, if Comstock had arrived. He may
+get in yet."
+
+"But you won't do so now--will you?"
+
+"No! I thank you, boys," exclaimed their host, extending an impulsive
+hand to each at the same time.
+
+"Then--then our information is going to be of some use to you?"
+
+"More than you can have any idea of. You have done me a greater
+service than you know. I thank you--thank you from the bottom of my
+heart! Perhaps, ere long I may be able to show my appreciation in a
+more substantial manner."
+
+Marquand ceased speaking abruptly and began pacing back and forth,
+hands thrust deep into his coat pockets. He was a man of slight build,
+but strong and wiry. He was well past middle age, erect and forceful.
+Looking at him, Tad found himself wondering how such a man could have
+gotten into the clutches of two such rascals as Bob Lasar and Joe
+Comstock. Tad hoped their host would offer some explanation, while
+Chunky was nearly bursting with curiosity. Mr. Marquand appeared to
+have forgotten their presence entirely.
+
+"I think we had better be going now," suggested Tad, rising.
+
+"Wait!" commanded their host. "Sit down! I have something to say to
+you. Then, perhaps, I'll walk back to your camp and have a talk with
+the Professor. What sort of man is your guide?"
+
+"He's a very fine man--"
+
+"That's my idea. What you heard on the train is borne out by several
+little things that have come under my observation within the last few
+days, but I did not think they would go as far as you have indicated.
+I will tell you frankly, that I expect the treasure which we hope to
+find to be a big one. How I happened to take these men in with me, in
+the search for it, is unnecessary to state. However, I am done with
+them, now, for good. They know that I have not put my information on
+paper, or else they might have made an end of me before this."
+
+"Is the treasure near this vicinity, Mr. Marquand?" asked Tad.
+
+"About two days' journey. I expect to find it at or near the ruins of
+an old Pueblo house. You know they built their homes one on top of
+another. Some of their adobe houses are six and seven stories high.
+Even if we locate the place, we may experience great difficulty in
+finding that of which we are in search. How would you boys like to
+join me? It will be an interesting experience for you?"
+
+"Help--help you find the buried treasure?" questioned Chunky, his
+face red with suppressed excitement.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Great!" chorused the lads.
+
+"I'll talk with Professor Zepplin. Come, we will go over to the camp
+now."
+
+When Mr. Marquand and the Professor had finished their conference, Tad
+and Chunky leaned forward eagerly to learn the result.
+
+"Yes," nodded Mr. Marquand; "you're all going to help me find the
+ancient Pueblo treasure."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+IN HAND-TO-HAND CONFLICT
+
+
+"I'm done with you, Bob Lasar! And you, too, Comstock!" thundered Mr.
+Marquand, as the rascals stood at the door of his room some two hours
+later.
+
+Mr. Marquand had been waiting for them, and with him was Tad Butler,
+whom he had urged to accompany him back to the hotel that he might be
+a witness to what took place. Perhaps, too, Mr. Marquand reasoned that
+his former associates might not take the same attitude toward him in
+the presence of the boy that they might otherwise take.
+
+The two men had halted in the doorway as Mr. Marquand hurled his
+decision at them.
+
+Lasar shoved his companion into the room and closed the door.
+
+"Sit down, both of you! So you thought to hoodwink me--to get the
+secret of the treasure and then put me out of the way, eh? That was
+your game, was it? Well, it's all off now. I'll have nothing further
+to do with you."
+
+"Why--why, Mr. Marquand, it's all a mistake!" began one of the pair.
+
+"Perhaps you'll deny having plotted against me on a train on your way
+to Bluewater."
+
+"I deny ever having tried to put up a game on--"
+
+"Master Tad, did you ever see these men before?"
+
+They turned on the lad quickly. Neither man had previously observed
+him.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"On the train, as you mentioned just now."
+
+"And they were plotting my life?"
+
+"So it seemed to me, sir."
+
+"What have you to say to that?" demanded Mr. Marquand.
+
+"That the boy lies!"
+
+Tad's face flushed angrily.
+
+"That'll do," said Marquand, more quietly.
+
+"Then you believe him--you do not believe me?"
+
+"I believe him. I know he has told me the truth. Now, it isn't
+necessary to explain to you. You deserve no explanation and you'll get
+none further than what you already have."
+
+"But--"
+
+"No 'buts' about it. I said I was done with you. Now, I want you to
+get out of my sight! You're a couple of rogues--so crooked that you
+can't walk straight."
+
+Bob Lasar's face had grown livid with rage. His anger was rapidly
+getting beyond all bounds. Tad observed it and saw the storm coming.
+It arrived a moment later when Lasar whipped out a revolver.
+
+Before Mr. Marquand could make a move to draw his own weapon Bob had
+aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger.
+
+Tad, instantly divining the purpose of the man when he saw his hand
+fly to the pistol holster under his coat, sprang forward.
+
+There was a deafening report. A bullet buried itself in the ceiling of
+the room.
+
+Tad had struck up the desperado's arm just in the nick of time, thus
+preventing a terrible crime. But the end was not yet. There were five
+more bullets in the cylinder of the weapon, as the lad knew full well.
+
+He grabbed Lasar's arm, hanging on desperately, at the same time
+trying to get a wrestling hold.
+
+The weapon went off again, this time sending a bullet into the floor.
+
+"Look out for the other fellow!" shouted Tad.
+
+Mr. Marquand already had done so. Comstock had just made an attempt to
+draw his own weapon when Marquand threw himself upon the man. The two
+went crashing to the floor, while Tad and Lasar were battling all over
+the room, the latter's weapon barking viciously every little while.
+
+Lasar was much more powerful than his slender antagonist, but Tad
+being very quick on his feet managed to keep out of the way of the
+revolver and at the same time to avoid being thrown.
+
+Suddenly, the boy gave the gun-hand of his opponent a quick twist.
+
+Lasar uttered a sharp exclamation of pain. The revolver clattered to
+the floor.
+
+Quick as a flash, Tad threw a leg behind the knee of his antagonist,
+gave it a quick jerk, with the result that Lasar went to the floor
+with great violence.
+
+By this time, occupants of the hotel were running down the hall, while
+others were hammering at the door. Lasar had turned the key upon
+entering the room.
+
+Those within did not have time to listen to the demands of those in
+the hall, who were demanding admission.
+
+Mr. Marquand, as soon as he got his opponent down, quickly disarmed
+him.
+
+"Get up!" he commanded. "I don't want to kill you. I ought to do so,
+but I won't."
+
+He sprang from Comstock, and jerking Tad from Lasar, whom the lad was
+making heroic efforts to hold down, pulled the fallen rascal to his
+feet.
+
+"Get out, both of you!" he commanded, covering both his visitors with
+his weapon.
+
+Lasar, in struggling to his feet, reached for his revolver.
+
+"Drop it or I'll fill you full of lead!"
+
+At that instant, the door burst open and half a dozen men sprang into
+the room.
+
+Lasar, seeing that he was caught, leaped through the open window. He
+was followed closely by Comstock. He, too, made a clean leap, landing
+on the soft ground below.
+
+"What's the meaning of this shooting?" shouted the proprietor, his
+face flushed with anger.
+
+"Two men tried to murder me," replied Marquand coolly.
+
+"It looks as though you were doing your share of it," snapped the
+proprietor, noting his guest's belligerent attitude and drawn weapon.
+
+Just then three shots in quick succession were fired from the outside.
+Two of the bullets narrowly missed some of the men, who had forced
+their way into the room.
+
+As the third shot was fired, Tad threw one hand to his head; then drew
+it away grinning.
+
+"Those rascals have evidently gotten a new supply of fire arms," he
+said.
+
+A bullet had gone through his hair and his scalp burned where the lead
+had brushed it.
+
+All of the newcomers drew their revolvers and sprang to the window.
+
+"Don't shoot!" cried the Pony Rider Boy; "You'll hit the wrong one.
+There are a hundred people down there."
+
+"He's right!" shouted Mr. Marquand, pushing his way between the men
+and the window, at the imminent risk of getting a bullet in his back
+from either Lasar or Comstock. "Let 'em go. They'll be running for
+home about this time. They are a couple of scoundrels, sir."
+
+"But the damage. Look at my fine room."
+
+"I'll pay for the damage, and I'll quit your hotel now. I've had
+enough of the place," retorted Mr. Marquand, pulling a roll of bills
+from his pocket. "How much is it?"
+
+"Well, you see--"
+
+"How much is it?"
+
+"Well, I guess twenty-five would be about right. You see--"
+
+"Here's your twenty-five. Clear out!"
+
+With many apologies the proprietor, accompanied by the others, backed
+from the room.
+
+"We came pretty near having a fight, didn't we?" Marquand smiled,
+looking at Tad for the first time since the disturbance began.
+
+"Almost."
+
+"He would have got me if you hadn't knocked up his gun-hand. That's
+another one I owe you. Well, maybe we'll have a pay day soon."
+
+"You had better go back to camp with me, and bunk in with us
+to-night," suggested the lad, "We shall want to make an early start in
+the morning, anyway. I think it will be safer there, too. That pair
+won't dare come fooling around our camp, knowing they can't trifle
+with us," added the lad, with a note of pride in his tone.
+
+"I'll do it. Not that I'm afraid of anything that walks on two legs,
+but the sooner we hitch up the better it'll be. Got room enough?"
+
+"Plenty. Where's your pony?"
+
+"Up near your camp. Come on."
+
+The man and the boy walked from the hotel, the former looking neither
+to the right nor to the left, Tad observing their surroundings half
+suspiciously. He was sure they had not yet heard the last of Bob Lasar
+and Joe Comstock. In this he was right.
+
+Marquand and the boy had gone no more than ten rods from the hotel,
+when the report of a revolver was heard, and a bullet fired from the
+corner of an adobe building passed within an inch of Mr. Marquand's
+head.
+
+With wonderful quickness the latter drew and sent three shots at the
+flash.
+
+Whether he had hit any thing or not he did not know.
+
+"Run! I don't want you to get hit," cried the boy's new friend,
+grasping Tad by the hand and starting off at a brisk pace.
+
+"Bullets don't scare me, so long as they don't hit me," laughed young
+Butler.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+MOONBEAM POINTS THE WAY
+
+
+"The moon will be here in a moment."
+
+"What was it the old Pueblo chief said, Mr. Marquand?"
+
+"'When the full of the moon has come and shoots its first arrow over
+the crests of the Guadalupes, it points the way to the treasure of my
+ancient people,'" quoted Mr. Marquand.
+
+"I presume that would be taken to mean that, at a certain phase of the
+moon, one of its beams points to where the treasure is hidden,"
+explained Professor Zepplin. "But what leads you to believe this is
+the Pueblo village of your particular chief's ancestors?"
+
+"Yes; I don't see why it might not be any of the ruined adobe houses
+in this valley?" said Ned Rector.
+
+They had journeyed rapidly over mountain and plain to the valley of
+the Guadalupes, where Mr. Marquand had informed them that he expected
+to find the treasure. In the three days consumed on the journey, the
+travelers had seen nothing of either Lasar or Comstock. Evidently the
+pair had decided to leave the country while they still had the chance,
+fearing that perhaps Mr. Marquand might invoke the aid of the law to
+rid himself of them if they remained.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys and their outfit had arrived that afternoon, and
+during the remaining hours of daylight they had been excitedly
+exploring the ancient dwellings, most of which were in a dilapidated
+condition. There was one, however, two stories in height, that was in
+an excellent state of preservation. In fact it appeared as if it had
+only recently been vacated. After an examination of all the ruins Mr.
+Marquand had discovered what led him to believe that this was the
+structure which the old Pueblo chief referred to in his description of
+the resting place of the treasure. The chief had said he had never
+been near the spot. He was the only member of his tribe to whom the
+secret had been handed down, and he in turn had transmitted it to the
+white man who now stood within the shadow of the ancient dwelling
+place.
+
+"I have my reasons for believing this is the place," answered Mr.
+Marquand, in response to the Professor's question. "If I am wrong, we
+shall have to wait until the moon rises to-morrow night. Come inside
+now, and we will close the door."
+
+All hands crowded into the cool chamber, closing the heavy wooden door
+that barred the entrance.
+
+"Don't see how moonlight can get through solid walls," muttered Stacy.
+"Ought to leave the door open."
+
+No one answered him. In the darkened chamber, with its peculiar, musty
+odors, the boys did not feel in the mood for hilarity or even for
+speech. There was something about their situation that seemed to
+impress them profoundly.
+
+"Stand over against the wall on the side, so as not to obstruct any
+light that might possibly get in here," directed Mr. Marquand.
+
+The others moved silently to the side of the room indicated by him.
+They had stood thus for fully five minutes when an exclamation from
+Stacy broke the stillness harshly.
+
+"Look! Look!" cried the fat boy.
+
+A slender shaft of light had suddenly pierced the blackness, coming
+they knew not whence. It was there.
+
+"Must be a pin hole through the wall up near the ceiling," suggested
+Kris Kringle.
+
+The silver thread shot across the chamber, ending abruptly on the
+adobe floor some three feet from the back wall.
+
+"That's the spot!" shouted Mr. Marquand triumphantly.
+
+He threw himself on the floor, and with his knife scratched a cross on
+the spot where the moonbeam rested. Scarcely had he done so when the
+delicate shaft of light disappeared as suddenly as it had come.
+
+"It's gone," breathed the boys.
+
+"But it has pointed the way."
+
+"And we have followed the silver trail to its end," added Ned Rector
+poetically.
+
+"Bring the tools!" cried Mr. Marquand.
+
+While they were doing so, he struck a match and lighted the lantern
+that they had brought with them from their camp in the foothills. His
+first care was to bar the door with the heavy wooden timber that he
+had cut and which he now slipped into its fastenings.
+
+A close examination of the floor revealed no marks save those put
+there by the treasure-hunter's knife.
+
+"This house seems to be built on the solid ground. I do not think you
+will find anything under it," protested the Professor.
+
+"There are houses under every one of these buildings," answered Mr.
+Marquand. He held a short, keen edged bar in place, while Kris Kringle
+swung the maul. Gradually they cut a ring about two feet in diameter
+about the cross. The material of which the floor had been made had
+been tempered with the years and was almost as hard as flint.
+
+The steady thud of the heavy maul, accompanied by the click, click of
+the cutting bar, the dim light, the silent, expectant faces, formed a
+weird picture in this silent desert place.
+
+After a full half hour of this the two men paused, and stood back,
+drawing sleeves across their foreheads to wipe away the perspiration.
+
+Stacy Brown walked pompously over to the circle.
+
+"Maybe I can fall through it. If I can't, nobody can," he said,
+jumping up and down on the spot where they had been cutting.
+
+There followed a rambling sound, and with a yell, Stacy Brown suddenly
+disappeared from sight. In place of the circle in which he had been
+standing was a black, ragged hole, from which particles of the mortar
+were still crumbling and rattling to the bottom of the pit.
+
+"Are you there?" cried Kris Kringle, leaping to the spot, thrusting
+the lantern down through the opening. "Master Stacy!"
+
+"Wow!" responded the boy from the depths.
+
+"Did it hurt you?"
+
+"How far did you fall?"
+
+This and other questions were hurled at the fat boy, as his companions
+crowded about the opening.
+
+"I'm killed. That'll answer all your questions," replied Stacy. "Hurry
+up! Get my remains out of this place."
+
+The rays of the lantern disclosed a short stairway, built of the same
+material of which the house itself had been constructed.
+
+Mr. Marquand forced himself past the guide and was down the steps in a
+twinkling. He was followed by the wondering Pony Rider Boys, Professor
+Zepplin and Kris Kringle in short order, for all crowded down through
+the narrow opening.
+
+Chunky had hit the top step and rolled all the way down. He had
+scrambled to his feet and was rubbing his shins by the time his
+friends reached him. His clothes were torn and he was covered with
+dust.
+
+"Fell down the cellar, didn't I?" he grinned.
+
+But no one gave any heed to him now. Mr. Marquand had snatched at the
+lantern and was running from point to point of the chamber in which
+they found themselves. He was laboring under great excitement.
+
+"Here's another opening," he shouted. "We haven't got to the bottom
+yet."
+
+Another flight of stairs led to still another and smaller chamber
+below. Mr. Marquand let out a yell the moment he reached the bottom.
+The others rushed pell-mell after him.
+
+There, with it's top just showing above the dirt was a long iron
+chest.
+
+"Give me the maul!" shouted the excited treasure seeker.
+
+He attacked the rusty iron fastenings; at last the cover yielded to
+his thunderous blows and falling on its edge, toppled over to the
+floor with a crash.
+
+"Somebody's old clothes," chuckled Stacy, peering into the open chest.
+
+The garments, priestly robes that lay at the top, fell to pieces the
+instant Mr. Marquand laid violent hands on them.
+
+"Look! Look! Was I right or was I wrong?" he cried, beside himself
+with joy.
+
+There, before their astonished eyes, lay a chest of gold--coins
+dulled by age, small nuggets and chunks of silver, all heaped
+indiscriminately in the treasure chest.
+
+"I did it!" shouted Chunky. "I did it with my little feet! I fell in
+and discovered the treasure!"
+
+The tongues of the Pony Rider Boys were suddenly loosened. Such a
+shout as they set up probably never had been heard before in the
+ancient adobe mansion of the Pueblos. Cheer after cheer echoed through
+the chambers and reached the ears of a dozen desperadoes who were
+skulking amid the sage brush without.
+
+Professor Zepplin scooped up a handful of the coins and examined them
+under the lantern.
+
+"Old Spanish coins," he informed them. "Pure gold. And look at these
+nuggets! Where do you suppose the Indians found them?"
+
+"There are hidden mines in the State," informed Mr. Marquand. "Some of
+these days they will be discovered. I have been hunting for them
+myself, but without success. Boys, what do you think of it now? If it
+had not been for you I might never have seen this sight."
+
+Their eyes were fairly bulging as they gazed at the heap of gold.
+Chunky squatted down scooping up a double handful and letting the
+coins run through his fingers. Then the other boys dipped in, laughing
+for pure joy, more because their adventure had borne fruit than for
+the love of the gold itself.
+
+"Must be more'n a bushel of it," announced Stacy.
+
+"Those old Franciscans must have been saving up for a rainy day. And
+it never rained here at all," suggested Ned humorously.
+
+"Shall we count it?" asked Mr. Marquand.
+
+"Just as you wish," replied the Professor.
+
+"Were I in your place, Mr. Marquand, I should get the stuff out of
+here as soon as possible. You can't tell what may happen. I would
+suggest that we secure the treasure and be on our way at once. You
+will want to get it to a bank as quickly as possible. This is one of
+the things that cannot be kept quiet."
+
+"You are right. Will somebody go over to the camp and get those gunny
+sacks of mine? I don't want to lose sight of my find for a minute. You
+know how I feel about it--not that I do not trust you. You know--"
+
+"Surely we understand," smiled Tad.
+
+"And you all have an interest in it--you shall share the treasure
+with me--"
+
+"No, we don't," shouted the boys. "We've had more than a million
+dollars worth of fun out of it already."
+
+"Certainly not," added the Professor.
+
+"We'll discuss that later," said Mr. Marquand firmly. "Just now we
+must take care of what we have found. Who will get the bags?"
+
+"We will," answered the boys promptly.
+
+"No; you stay here. I'll get them," answered Kris Kringle. "Light me
+up the stairs so I don't break my neck in this old rookery."
+
+One of the boys lighted the way to the next floor, then stepped back
+into the cellar, where Mr. Marquand was turning over the treasure in
+an effort to find out if the pile extended all the way to the bottom
+of the chest.
+
+In the meantime Kris Kringle unbarred the door and threw it part way
+open. He did it cautiously, as if half expecting trouble.
+
+He threw the door to with a bang, springing to one side, and dropping
+the bar back into place.
+
+The reason for his sudden change of plans was that no sooner had the
+door opened than several thirty-eight calibre bullets were fired from
+the sage brush outside.
+
+Kris Kringle waited to learn whether those in the cellar had heard the
+shots. But they had not. They were some distance below ground, and
+their minds were wholly taken up with the great treasure before them.
+
+After a few moments the guide once more removed the bar, first having
+drawn his revolver in case of sudden surprise. Then he cautiously
+opened the door an inch or so.
+
+At first nothing happened. The moonlit landscape lay as silent and
+peaceful as if there were not a human being on the desert.
+
+There were six distinct flashes all at once and a rain of lead
+showered into the door.
+
+Kris Kringle took a pot shot at one of the flashes, then slammed the
+door shut and barred it.
+
+"Well; I hope that would get you," he muttered.
+
+Hastily retracing his steps he called the party up to the second
+cellar.
+
+"Did you fetch the sacks?" called Mr. Marquand.
+
+"No, but I've fetched trouble. It's coming in sackfuls."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"We're besieged."
+
+"Besieged?" wondered the Professor.
+
+"Yes; there's a crowd outside, and they've been trying to shoot me up.
+Must be some of your friends, Mr. Marquand."
+
+"Lasar and Comstock? The scoundrels!" growled Mr. Marquand. "But we'll
+make short work of them."
+
+"Not so easy as you think There are more than two out there--there's
+a crowd and they've got rifles. Our rifles are over in the camp. I've
+got a six-shooter and so have you, but what do they amount to against
+half a dozen rifles?"
+
+"I'll talk to them, if I can get any place to make them hear,"
+announced Mr. Marquand, starting up the stairs.
+
+"I reckon there's a window on the second floor, but you'd better be
+careful that you don't get winged," warned the guide.
+
+Mr. Marquand went right on, and the others followed. As the guide had
+said there was a small window on the floor above the ground,
+apparently the only one in the house.
+
+Mr. Marquand hailed the besiegers.
+
+"Who are you and what do you mean by shooting us up in this fashion?"
+he demanded.
+
+"You ought to know who we are, Jim Marquand, and you know what we
+want!"
+
+"Yes, I know you all right, Lasar, and I'll make you smart for this."
+
+"The place is as much mine as it is yours," answered Lasar. "And I
+propose to take it! If you'll make an even divvy of what you have
+found, or expect to find, we'll go away and let you alone. If you
+don't we'll take the whole outfit."
+
+"Take it, take it!" jeered Marquand. "You couldn't take it in a
+hundred years--not unless you used artillery."
+
+"Then we'll starve you out," replied the man in the sage brush.
+
+"Look out!" warned the guide.
+
+Mr. Marquand sprang to one side just as a volley crashed through the
+opening, the bullets rattling to the floor after bounding back from
+the flint-like walls.
+
+"I guess they've got you, Mr. Marquand. We can't hold out forever. If
+we had rifles we could pick them off by daylight. But when morning
+comes they'll draw back out of revolver range and plunk the first man
+who shows himself outside. Have you any title to this property?"
+
+"Yes. I have bought up a hundred acres about here. The deeds are in my
+pocket. I guess nobody has a better title.".
+
+"His title is all right," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I made sure of
+that before I decided to come with Mr. Marquand."
+
+"Then there's only one thing to be done."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Get a sheriff's posse and bag the whole bunch."
+
+Mr. Marquand laughed harshly.
+
+"If we were in a position to get a posse we should be able to get away
+without one. I think we had better go below. This is not a very safe
+place with this open window."
+
+"I'll remain here."
+
+"What for, Kringle?"
+
+"Somebody's got to watch the front door to see that they don't play
+any tricks on us. It's clouding up, and if the night gets dark they'll
+try to get in."
+
+"How far is it to a place where we could get a sheriff?" asked Tad,
+who had been thinking deeply.
+
+"Hondo. Fifteen miles due east of here as the moon rises. Why?"
+
+"If I were sure I could find my way, I think I might get some help,"
+answered the lad quietly.
+
+"You!" snapped Mr. Marquand, turning on him.
+
+"If I had a rope. Perhaps I can do it without one."
+
+"I'd like to know how?"
+
+Mr. Marquand was inclined to treat the proposition lightly, believing
+that such a move as proposed by Tad Butler was an impossibility. Kris
+Kringle, however, was regarding the boy inquiringly. He knew that Tad
+had some plan in mind and that it was likely to be a good one.
+
+"The rascals are all out in front of the house, aren't they?"
+
+"Yes, Master Tad. There's no reason why they should be behind the
+house. They know we can't get out that way; because there is no
+opening on that side."
+
+Tad nodded.
+
+"Then I can do it."
+
+"Tad, what foolish idea have you in mind now? I cannot consent to your
+taking any more chances."
+
+"Professor, we are taking long enough chances as it is. Unless we are
+relieved soon, we shall be starved out and perhaps worse."
+
+"What's your plan?" interrupted Kris Kringle.
+
+"See that hole in the roof up there?" Tad pointed.
+
+They had not seen it before, but they did now. A light suddenly dawned
+upon Kris Kringle.
+
+"Boy, you are the only level-headed one in the outfit. You would have
+made a corking Indian fighter."
+
+"I'm the Indian fighter," chimed in Stacy.
+
+"You can boost me up to the hole and I'll go over the rear of the
+house, get to the camp and from there ride to Hondo."
+
+Tad's three companions started a cheer, which the guide sternly put
+down.
+
+"I can't consent to any such plan," decided the Professor sternly.
+
+The rest reasoned with him until, finally, he did consent, though he
+knew the lad would be taking desperate chances. Tad understood that as
+well as the rest of them, but he was burning to be off.
+
+Kris Kringle gave him careful directions as to how to get to the
+place.
+
+"Take your rifle with you, if you can get it. After you get half a
+mile or a mile away shoot once. That will tell us you are all right."
+
+"You can help me in getting away from here, if you will do some
+shooting to cover my escape," suggested Tad.
+
+"That's a good idea," agreed the guide. "You wait on the roof until we
+begin to rake the sage with our revolvers. Then drop. Take a wide
+circuit, so that you won't stumble over the enemy."
+
+Tad gave his belt a hitch, stuffed his sombrero under it and announced
+himself as ready.
+
+The guide stepped under the hole. Tad quickly climbed to his shoulder
+and stood up like a circus performer. He could easily reach the roof
+with his hands. A second more and his feet were lifted from the
+shoulders of the guide. They saw the figure in the opening; then it
+disappeared.
+
+A slight scraping noise was the only sound they heard.
+
+Tad flattened himself out and wriggled along toward the rear of the
+roof. Peering over the edge he made sure that there was no one about.
+He then lay quietly waiting for the shooting to begin.
+
+"Let 'em have it," directed Kris Kringle.
+
+A sudden fusillade was emptied into the sage brush.
+
+Tad swung himself over the edge of the roof, hung on for a few
+seconds, then dropped lightly to the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+The enemy answered the shots with a volley, and for a few moments a
+lot of ammunition was wasted while the odor of gunpowder assailed
+nostrils on both sides.
+
+After that, the shooting died away. As the minutes lengthened into an
+hour, and no word of Tad's mission had been received, the defenders
+began to grow restless. They were under a double tension now. Mr.
+Marquand was pacing up and down the floor.
+
+Suddenly, forgetful of the danger that lurked out there, he poked his
+head out of the window.
+
+A sharp pat on the stone window frame beside him, after the bullet had
+snipped off the tip of his left ear, caused Mr. Marquand to draw back
+suddenly. He stalked about the floor, holding a handkerchief to the
+wounded ear, "talking in dashes and asterisks," as Chunky put it.
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore a grim smile. He was taking chances of being
+shot, every second now, but he insisted in holding his place at the
+side of the window so he could listen and watch.
+
+A thin, fleecy veil covered the moon, but it was not dense enough to
+fully hide objects on the landscape.
+
+"All keep quiet, now," warned Kris Kringle. "We should get a signal
+pretty soon."
+
+"I'm afraid something has happened to the boy," muttered the
+Professor. Then all fell silent.
+
+"There it goes!" exclaimed the guide in a tone of great relief.
+
+The crack of a rifle afar off sounded clear and distinct.
+
+"He's made it. Thank heaven!" breathed Mr. Marquand fervently.
+
+Chunky leaped to the opening, swung his sombrero as he leaned out, and
+uttered a long, shrill "y-e-o-w!"
+
+A bullet chipped the adobe at his side. Stacy ducked, throwing himself
+on the floor, sucking a thumb energetically.
+
+"Wing you?" inquired Kris Kringle.
+
+"Somebody burned my thumb," wailed the fat boy.
+
+"It was a bullet that burned you. Served you right too. Somebody tie
+that boy up or he'll be killed," counseled the guide.
+
+The besiegers could not have failed to hear the shot from Tad's rifle,
+but it did not seem to disturb them. They evidently did not even dream
+that one of the party had escaped their vigilance and that he was well
+on his way for assistance.
+
+The wait from that time on was a tedious and trying one, though each
+felt a certain sense of elation that Tad Butler had succeeded in
+outwitting the enemy.
+
+It was shortly after two o'clock in the morning when Kris Kringle
+espied a party of horsemen slowly encircling the adobe house. The
+riders were strung out far off on the plain. Those hiding in the sage
+in front of the house could not see the approaching horsemen.
+
+"There they come," whispered Kris Kringle. "Begin shooting!"
+
+The two men started firing, while the besiegers poured volley after
+volley through the window.
+
+The posse at this, closed in at a gallop. Their rifles now began to
+crash.
+
+In a few minutes it was all over. The sheriff's men surrounded the
+besiegers, placing every man of them under arrest. After this the
+officers quickly liberated the Pony Rider Boys. Three of the besiegers
+had been wounded. Among them, was the Mexican whom Tad had defeated in
+the tilting game a few days before.
+
+When all was over, the boys hoisted Tad Butler on their shoulders and
+marched around the adobe house shouting and singing. Mr. Marquand
+decided to go back with the posse, using these men as a guard for his
+treasure. It was understood that the Pony Rider Boys were to follow
+the next morning. Before leaving, Mr. Marquand called the Professor
+aside.
+
+"There is, on a rough estimate, all of sixty thousand dollars in the
+treasure chest. Had it not been for you and your brave boys I should
+have lost it. So, when you reach Hondo to-morrow, I shall take great
+pleasure in presenting to each of you a draft for two thousand
+dollars."
+
+Professor Zepplin protested, but Mr. Marquand insisted, and he kept
+his word. After the posse, with their prisoners and the treasure, had
+started, the Pony Rider Boys, arm in arm, started off across the
+moonlit meadows toward their camp. It was their last night in camp.
+Their summer's journeyings had come to an end--a fitting close to
+their adventurous travels. Not a word did they speak until they
+reached the camp. There, they turned and gazed off over the plain
+which was all silvered under the now clear light of the moon.
+
+"It has been a silver trail," mused Tad Butler.
+
+"It has indeed," breathed his companions
+
+"And we've reached the end of The Silver Trail," added the Professor,
+coming up at that moment. "To-morrow I'll breathe the first free
+breath that I've drawn in three months."
+
+The boys circled slowly around him and joined hands. Then their voices
+rose on the mellow desert air to the tune of
+
+                         "Home, Sweet Home."
+
+A week later saw the wanderers back in Chillicothe. Their welcome was
+a warm one. Banker Perkins found his once ailing son now transformed
+into a sturdy young giant.
+
+We shall meet them again in the next volume of this series--in a tale
+of surpassing wonders--published under the title: "THE PONY RIDER
+BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or, the Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch." It
+will be found to be by far the most interesting volume so far
+published about the splendid Pony Rider Boys.
+
+ The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico, by
+Frank Gee Patchin
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
+by Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
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+Title: The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
+
+Author: Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Release Date: January, 2004  [EBook #4991]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Jim Weiler, xooqi.com
+
+
+
+                    The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
+
+ or
+
+ The End of the Silver Trail
+
+by Frank Gee Patchin, 1910
+  _________________________________________________________________
+
+  CHAPTER I
+
+ SOMETHING IN THE WIND
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"Only one of the boys in the seat behind us, snoring."
+
+"Sure they're asleep?"
+
+"Yes, but what if they're not? They are only kids. They wouldn't
+understand."
+
+"Don't you be too sure about that. I've heard about those kids. Heard
+about 'em over in Nevada. There's four of them. They call themselves
+the Pony Rider Boys; and they're no tenderfeet, if all I hear is true.
+They have done some pretty lively stunts."
+
+"Yes, that's all right, Bob, but we ain't going to begin by getting
+cold feet over a bunch of kids out for a holiday."
+
+"Where they going?"
+
+"Don't know. Presume they'll be taking a trip over the plains or
+heading for the mountains. They've got a stock car up ahead jammed
+full of stock and equipment."
+
+"Scarecrows?"
+
+"No. Good stock. Some of the slickest ponies you ever set eyes on.
+There's one roan there that I wouldn't mind owning. Maybe we can make
+a trade," and the speaker chuckled softly to himself.
+
+A snore louder than those that had preceded it, caused the two men to
+laugh heartily.
+
+The snore had come from Stacy Brown. Both he and Tad Butler were
+resting from their long journey on the Atlantic and Pacific train.
+Further to the rear of the car, their companions, Ned Rector and
+Walter Perkins, also were curled up in a double seat, with Professor
+Zepplin sitting very straight as if sleep were furthest from his
+thoughts. They were nearing their destination now, and within the hour
+would be unloading their stock and equipment at Bluewater.
+
+"They're asleep all right," grinned one of the two men who occupied
+the seat just ahead of Stacy and Tad. "Is old man Marquand going to
+meet us at the station?"
+
+"Oh, no. That wouldn't be a good thing. Might attract too much
+attention. Told him not to. We'll get a couple of ponies at Bluewater
+and ride across the mountains. But we've got to be slick. The old man
+is no fool. He'll hang on to the location of the treasure till the
+last old cat's gone to sleep for good."
+
+"Any idea where the place is?"
+
+"No. Except that it's somewhere south of the Zuni range."
+
+A solitary eye in the seat behind, opened cautiously. The eye belonged
+to Stacy Brown. The last snore had awakened him, and he had lain with
+closed eyes listening to the conversation of the two men.
+
+He gave Tad a gentle nudge, which was returned with a soft pressure on
+Stacy's right arm as a warning that he was to remain quiet.
+
+"Do you know what the treasure consists of?"
+
+"Maybe a mine, but as near as I could draw from Marquand's talk it is
+jewels and Spanish money which one of the old Franciscan monks had
+buried. The Pueblos knew where it was, but they sealed the place up
+after the Pueblo revolution in 1680, and it's been corked tight ever
+since."
+
+"How'd Marquand get wise to it?"
+
+"From an old Pueblo Chief whose life he saved a few months ago. The
+old chief died a little while afterwards, but before he went, he told
+Marquand about the treasure."
+
+"Didn't suppose a redskin had so much gratitude under his tough skin.
+Does the old man know where the place is?"
+
+"No, not exactly. That's where we come in," grinned the speaker. "We
+are going to help him find it."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Oh, well. There's lots of ways to get rid of him."
+
+"You mean?"
+
+"He might tumble off into a canyon, or something of the sort, in the
+night time. Here's the place."
+
+The train was rounding a bend into the little town of Bluewater.
+
+"Sit still," whispered Tad. "I want to get a look at those fellows so
+I'll know them next time I see them."
+
+The Pony Rider boy left his seat, and hurrying to the forward end of
+the car, helped himself to a drink of water from the tank; then slowly
+retraced his steps.
+
+As he walked down the car, he took in the two men in one swift,
+comprehensive glance, then swung his hands to his companions at the
+other end of the car, as a signal that they were arriving at their
+destination.
+
+"Know 'em?" whispered Stacy as Tad began pulling his baggage from the
+rack.
+
+"Never saw either before. Better get your stuff together. This train
+is fast only when it stops. It drags along over the country, but when
+it gets into a station it's always in a hurry to get away," laughed
+Tad.
+
+A few minutes later the party of bronzed young men sprang from the car
+to the station platform, where they instantly became the center of a
+throng of curious villagers.
+
+Readers of the preceding volumes of this series are already too well
+acquainted with the Pony Rider Boys to need a formal introduction. As
+told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES," the lads had set out
+from their homes in Missouri for a summer's vacation in the saddle.
+That first volume detailed how the lads penetrated the fastnesses of
+the Rockies, hunted big game and how they finally discovered the Lost
+Claim, which they won after fighting a battle with the mountaineers,
+thus earning for themselves quite a fortune.
+
+In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS," the boys were again seen to
+advantage. There they joined in a cattle drive across the state as
+cowboys. They played an exciting part in the rough life of the cowmen,
+meeting with many stirring adventures. It will be remembered how, in
+this story, Tad Butler saved a large part of the herd, besides
+performing numerous heroic deeds, including the saving of the life of
+a member of the party from a swollen river. At the end of their
+journey, they solved a deep mystery-- a mystery that had perplexed and
+worried the cattle men, besides causing them heavy financial loss.
+
+In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA," the scene shifted to the old
+Custer Trail, the battle ground of one of the most tragic events in
+American history. The story described how Tad Butler overheard a plot
+to stampede and kill a flock of many thousand sheep; how after
+experiencing many hardships, he finally carried the news to the owner
+of the herd; then later, participated in the battle between the cowmen
+and sheep herders, in which the latter emerged victorious.
+
+It will be recalled too, how the Pony Rider Boy was captured by the
+Blackfeet Indians and taken to their mountain retreat, where with a
+young companion he was held until they made their escape with the
+assistance of an Indian maiden; how they were pursued by the savages,
+the bullets from whose rifles singing over the heads of the lads as
+they headed for a river into which they plunged, thus effectually
+throwing off the savage pursuers; and finally, how in time they made
+their way back to the camp of the Pony Riders, having solved the
+mystery of the old Custer Trail.
+
+After these exciting adventures, the lads concluded to cut short their
+Montana trip and go on to the next stage of their journeyings, which
+was destined to be even more stirring than any that had preceded it.
+How Tad Butler and Stacy Brown proved themselves to be real heroes,
+was told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS."
+
+For a long time, an organized band of thieves had been stealing stock
+in the Ozark range, baffling all efforts to apprehend them. The boys
+had been warned to guard their own stock carefully, but despite this,
+their ponies were stolen from camp, one by one and in a most
+mysterious manner, until not an animal was left. Then, one by one, the
+Pony Rider Boys became lost until only Tad and Stacy remained. They
+were facing starvation, and it will be recalled how Tad Butler made a
+plucky trip to the nearest mining camp for assistance. There the boys
+were imprisoned underground by a mine explosion; escaping from which,
+they met with perils every bit as grave, and from which they were
+eventually rescued by Stacy himself.
+
+Through the disaster, the lads solved the Secret of the Ruby Mountain,
+thus putting an end for good to the wholesale thieving in the Ozark
+range.
+
+Though the Pony Rider Boys had suffered many hardships in their
+journeyings, those that lay before them were destined to try them even
+more. In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI," they faced the perils of
+the baking alkali desert. It will be recalled how they fought
+desperately for water when all the usual sources of supply were found
+to have run dry; how Tad and Stacy Brown were captured by a desert
+hermit and thrown into a cave; how, after their escape, they were lost
+in the Desert Maze, and how after many hardships, they finally
+succeeded in making their way to camp, dragging behind them a wild
+coyote that Tad had roped when the boys were beset by the wild beasts
+in the dead of night.
+
+Nothing daunted by their trying experiences the Pony Rider Boys set
+out on the concluding trip of the season-- a journey over the historic
+plains and mountains of New Mexico. After a long railroad ride, they
+had finally arrived at the town of Bluewater, from which they were to
+begin their explorations in the southwest.
+
+A guide was to meet and conduct them across the mountains of the Zuni
+range and so on to the southern borders of the state.
+
+By the time they reached the platform of the station, the stock car
+had been uncoupled and was being shifted to a side track where they
+might unload their belongings at their leisure.
+
+"I wonder where that guide is," said Tad.
+
+"He was told to be here," answered the Professor.
+
+"Never mind; we can unload better without him," averred Ned, starting
+off at a brisk trot for their car which had been shunted alongside the
+platform at the rear of the station.
+
+With joyous anticipation of the new scenes and experiences that lay
+before them, the lads set briskly to work, and within an hour had all
+the stock and equipment removed from the car.
+
+There was quite an imposing collection, with their ponies, their
+burros, tents and other equipment, the latter lying strewn all over
+the open level space beyond the station.
+
+"Looks as if a circus had just come to town," laughed Walter.
+
+"We've got a side show, anyway," retorted Ned.
+
+"What's our side show?"
+
+"Chunky's that."
+
+"No; he's the clown. The rest of us are the animals, only we're not in
+cages."
+
+"Hey, fellows, see that funny Mexican on the burro there," laughed
+Chunky. "Guess he never saw an outfit like ours before."
+
+The lads could not repress a laugh as they glanced at the figure
+pointed out by Stacy.
+
+The man was sitting on the burro, his feet extended on the ground
+before him, hands thrust deep into trousers pockets. He was observing
+the work of the boys curiously. The fellow's high, conical head was
+crowned by a peaked Mexican hat, much the worse for wear, while his
+coarse, black hair was combed straight down over a pair of small,
+piercing, dark eyes. The complexion, or such of it as was visible
+through the mask of wiry hair, was swarthy, his form thin and
+insignificant.
+
+Stacy Brown strode over to him somewhat pompously.
+
+"You speak English?" questioned the boy.
+
+"Si, seņor."
+
+The Mexican's lips curled back, revealing two rows of gleaming, white
+teeth.
+
+"I'm glad to hear it. I didn't think you could. We are looking for a
+guide who was to have met us here to conduct us over the mountains.
+His name is Juan. It'll be something else when he does show up. Do you
+know him?"
+
+"Si, seņor."
+
+"Isn't he coming to meet us?"
+
+"Si, seņor."
+
+"Well, I must say he's taking his time about getting here. Where is
+he?"
+
+"Juan here, seņor."
+
+"Here? I don't see him," answered the lad, looking about the place.
+
+"Me Juan," grinned the Mexican. "You?"
+
+"Never mind the seņor. I'll take for granted I'm a seņor, or whatever
+else you think. Say, fellows, come here," commanded Stacy.
+
+"Well, what's the matter?" demanded Ned, approaching, followed by the
+other boys.
+
+"This is it," announced Stacy, with a wave of his hand toward the
+Mexican.
+
+"What is it?" sniffed Ned.
+
+"This."
+
+"Chunky, what are you getting at?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Perhaps this gentleman will know where we may find our guide,"
+interrupted the Professor, coming up. "Seņor, do you know one Juan--"
+
+"Yes, he knows him," grinned Stacy. "He's very well acquainted with
+the gentleman."
+
+"Then where may we find this Juan
+
+"That's Juan-- that's your guide," Stacy informed the Professor.
+
+"You-- are you the guide?"
+
+"Si, seņor."
+
+The Professor opened his eyes in amazement. The burro, on the other
+hand, stood with nose to the ground sound asleep, oblivious to all
+that was taking place about him.
+
+"Why didn't you make yourself known-- why haven't you helped us to
+unload?" demanded the Professor in an irritated tone.
+
+"Me no peon. Me guide."
+
+"He's a guide," explained Stacy. "Guides don't work, you know,
+Professor. They are just ornaments. He and the burro are going to pose
+for our amusement."
+
+The boys laughed heartily. Professor Zepplin uttered an exclamation of
+impatience.
+
+"Sir, if you are going with this outfit you will be expected to do
+your share of the labor. There are no drones in our hive."
+
+"No; we all work," interposed Stacy.
+
+"And some of us are eaters," added Ned.
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his pearly teeth.
+
+At the Professor's command, however, Juan stepped off the burro
+without in the least disturbing that animal's dreams and lazily began
+collecting the baggage as directed by the Professor. After the
+equipment had been sorted into piles, the boys did it up into neat
+packs which they skillfully strapped to the backs of the burros of
+their pack train. Juan, lost in contemplation of their labors, forgot
+his own duties until reminded of them by Stacy, who gave the guide a
+violent poke in the ribs with his thumb.
+
+Juan started; then, with a sheepish grin, became busy again.
+
+It was no small task to get their belongings in packs preparatory to
+the journey; but late in the afternoon the boys had completed their
+task. They had had nothing to eat since early morning. But they were
+too anxious to be on their way to wait for dinner in town.
+
+After making some necessary purchases in the village, the procession
+finally started away across the plain.
+
+"You'll never get anywhere with that sleepy burro, Juan," decided the
+Professor, with a shake of the head.
+
+"Him go fast," grinned the Mexican.
+
+"So can a crab on dry land," jeered Ned.
+
+Just then the guide utter a series of shrill "yi-yi's," whereupon the
+lads were treated to an exhibition such as they never had seen before.
+
+The sleepy burro projected his head straight out before him, while his
+tail, raised to a level with his back, stuck straight out behind him.
+The burro, seemingly imbued with sudden life, was off at a pace faster
+than a man could run.
+
+It was most astonishing. The boys gazed in amazement; then burst out
+in a chorus of approving yells.
+
+But it was the rider, even more than the burro, that excited their
+mirth. His long legs were working like those of a jumping jack, and
+though astride of the burro, Juan was walking at a lively pace. It
+reminded one of the way men propelled the old-fashioned velocipedes
+years before.
+
+A cloud of dust rose behind the odd outfit as the party drew out on
+the plains. Their ponies were started at a gallop, which was necessary
+to enable them to keep up with the pace that Juan had set.
+
+"Here! Here!" shouted the Professor.
+
+Juan never looked back.
+
+"We're leaving the pack train. Slow down!"
+
+Laughingly the lads pulled their ponies down to a walk; then halted
+entirely to enable the burros to catch up with them. By this time the
+pack animals had become so familiar with their work that little
+attention was necessary on the part of the boys. Now and then one more
+sleepy than the rest would go to sleep and pause to doze a few minutes
+on the trail. This always necessitated all hands stopping to wait
+until the sleeper could be rounded up and driven up to the bunch.
+
+Juan had disappeared. They were discussing the advisability of sending
+one of the boys out after him when he was seen returning. But at what
+a different gait! His burro was dragging itself along with its head close to
+the ground, while Juan himself was slouching on its back half asleep.
+
+"You must have a motor inside that beast," grinned Tad.
+
+"Him go some, seņor?"
+
+"Him do," answered Stacy, his solemn eyes taking in the sleepy burro
+wonderingly.
+
+"Better not waste your energy performing," advised the Professor. "We
+shall need what little you have. We will make camp here, as I see
+there is a spring near by. Help the boys unpack the burros."
+
+"Si, seņor," answered the guide, standing erect and permitting his
+burro to walk from under him.
+
+With shouts and songs the lads, in great good humor, went to work at
+once, pitching their camp for the first time on the plains of New
+Mexico. There was much to be done, and twilight was upon them before
+they had advanced far enough to begin cooking their evening meal.
+
+  CHAPTER II
+
+ IN THE ZUNI FOOTHILLS
+
+A sudden wail from the guide attracted the attention of the party to
+him at once. "Now what's the matter?" demanded Tad, hurrying to him.
+
+The guide had thrown himself prone upon the ground and was groaning as
+if in great agony, offering no reply to the question.
+
+"Are you sick?"
+
+"Si, si, seņor," moaned Juan.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Estomago-- mucho malo."
+
+"Your stomach?"
+
+"He's got a pain under his apron," diagnosed Stacy solemnly.
+
+"Been working too hard," suggested Ned.
+
+In the meantime the guide was rolling and twisting on the ground,
+glancing appealingly from one to the other of them.
+
+"Professor, hadn't you better fetch your medicine case and dose him
+up?" asked Tad.
+
+"Yes, I'll attend to him."
+
+"Give him a good dose while you are about it," urged Ned. "Something
+that will cure his laziness at the same time."
+
+The Professor brought his case; then, remembering something else in
+his kit that he wanted, he laid the case down and hurried back to his
+tent. However, Stacy opened the case, selecting a bottle, apparently
+at random, drew the cork and held the bottle under Juan's nose.
+
+"Smell of this, my son. It'll cure your estomago on the run."
+
+"Be careful, Chunky, what are you doing there?" warned Tad. "You
+shouldn't fool with the medicines. You--"
+
+His further remarks were cut short by a sudden yell of terror and pain
+from Juan.
+
+The guide leaped to his feet choking, gasping, while the tears ran
+down his cheeks as he danced about as if suddenly bereft of his
+senses.
+
+"Now you've gone and done it," growled Ned. "He never moved so fast in
+his life, I'll wager."
+
+Juan was running in a circle now, shrieking and moaning. Professor
+Zepplin approached them in a series of leaps. He could not imagine
+what new disaster had overtaken the lazy Mexican.
+
+"Here, here, here, what's the trouble now?" He demanded sternly. "Stop
+that howling!"
+
+"Chunky's been prescribing for your patient in your absence," Ned
+informed him.
+
+The Professor grabbed the wild guide by the collar, giving him a
+vigorous shake. When he released his grip, Juan sank to the ground in
+a heap, moaning weakly.
+
+"What's that you say? Stacy prescribed--"
+
+"I-- I let him smell of the bottle," explained Stacy guiltily.
+
+"What bottle?"
+
+Stacy slowly picked up the offending bottle and handed it to the
+Professor.
+
+"Ammonia! Boy, you might have put his eyes out! Never let this occur
+again. Remember, you are not to touch the medicines under any
+circumstances whatever!"
+
+"Yes, sir," agreed Chunky meekly, while Ned Rector strolled away,
+shaking with laughter.
+
+"Drink," begged the patient.
+
+"Fetch him some water," directed Professor Zepplin.
+
+"No, no, no, seņor," protested Juan, gesticulating protestingly.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Guess he wants something stronger than water," suggested Ned.
+
+"Si, si, si," agreed the guide, showing his white teeth in an
+approving grin.
+
+"You won't get anything stronger than that in this outfit, unless you
+cook yourself some coffee," muttered Tad.
+
+"That's what's the matter with him," decided Chunky, who had been
+observing the sick man keenly.
+
+"Guess we drew a prize when we got Juan," announced Walter.
+
+"Give him some medicine, anyway," urged Ned. "He is sick-- let him
+take the dose."
+
+"Let him have the worst you've got in your case, Professor," added
+Tad, with a laugh.
+
+A grim smile played about the corners of Professor Zepplin's mouth as
+he ran his fingers over the bottles in his medicine case. Finally,
+selecting one that seemed to fit the particular ailment of his
+patient, he directed Chunky to fetch a spoon.
+
+By this time Juan was protesting volubly that he was "all better" and
+did not need the medicine. The Professor gave no heed to the fellow's
+protestations.
+
+"Open your mouth," he commanded.
+
+Juan shut his teeth tightly together.
+
+"Open your mouth!" commanded the Professor sternly. "We want no sick
+men about this camp. It will fix you in a minute."
+
+But the guide steadfastly refused to separate the white teeth.
+
+"Boys, open his mouth while I pour the medicine down him," gritted the
+Professor.
+
+They required no urging to do the Professor's bidding. Tad and Ned
+ranged themselves on either side of the patient, while Chunky sat on
+the guide's feet. Almost before he was aware of their purpose the boys
+had pried his jaws open and into the opening thus made professor
+Zepplin dropped the concoction he had mixed.
+
+The effect was electrical. Juan leaped to his feet as if elevated by
+springs, uttering a yell that might have been heard a mile or more on
+the open plain. But Juan did not run in a circle this time. Acting
+upon the mathematical theory that a straight line is the shortest
+distance between two points, the guide made a break for the spring,
+howling like a madman. The Pony Rider Boys looked on in amazement.
+
+Juan fell on his knees before the spring, dipping up the water in his
+hands.
+
+"What did you give him, professor?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Hot drops!" answered the man of science tersely.
+
+"Not that stuff you fed me when I ate too much honey in the Rockies?"
+questioned Stacy.
+
+"The same."
+
+"Wow! I had ten drops and it felt like a pailful when it got inside of
+me."
+
+"How much did you give Juan?" questioned Walter.
+
+"Twenty drops," answered Professor Zepplin without the suspicion of a
+smile on his face this time.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys added their yells to those of the guide, only with
+a difference. The more Juan drank of the spring water, the more did
+the hot drops burn.
+
+All at once he sprang up and started for the plain.
+
+"Catch him!" commanded the Professor.
+
+With a shout the lads started in pursuit. They overhauled the guide
+some twenty rods from camp, he having proved himself fleet of foot.
+Then again, the fire within him perhaps helped to increase his natural
+speed.
+
+"I burn! I burn!" he wailed as the boys grabbed and laughingly hustled
+him back to camp.
+
+"You'll burn worse than that if you ever ask for liquor in this
+outfit," retorted Ned. "We don't use the stuff, nor do we allow anyone
+around us who does."
+
+"How do you feel now?" grinned the Professor as they came up to him
+with their prisoner.
+
+"He's got a whole camp-fire in his little estomago," announced Chunky
+solemnly, which sally elicited a loud laugh from the boys.
+
+"Give him some olive oil," directed the Professor. "I think the lesson
+has been sufficiently burned into him "
+
+But considerable persuasion was necessary to induce Juan to take a
+spoonful of the Professor's medicine. He had already had one sample of
+it and he did not want another. Yet after some urging he tasted of the
+oil, at first gingerly; then he took it down at a gulp.
+
+"Ah!" he breathed.
+
+"Is it good?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Si. Much burn, much burn," he explained, rubbing his stomach.
+
+"Think you want some liquor still, Juan, or would you prefer another
+dose of my magic drops?"
+
+"No, no, no, seņor!" cried Juan, hastily moving away from Professor
+Zepplin.
+
+"Very well; any time when you feel a longing for strong drink, just
+help yourself to the hot drops," said the Professor, striding away to
+his tent, medicine case in hand.
+
+The guide, a much chastened man, set about assisting in getting the
+evening meal, but the hot drops still remained with him, making their
+presence known by occasional hot twinges.
+
+Supper that night was an enjoyable affair, though it was observed that
+the guide did not eat heartily.
+
+"Do you think he really had a pain?" asked Walter confidentially,
+leaning toward Ned.
+
+"Pain? No. He wanted something else."
+
+"And he got it," added Stacy, nodding solemnly.
+
+A chorus of "he dids" ran around the table, stopping only when they
+reached Juan himself.
+
+  CHAPTER III
+
+ INDIANS!
+
+"Juan, did you see two men get off the train at Bluewater yesterday
+when we did? One of them had a big, broad sombrero like mine?" asked
+Tad, riding up beside the guide next day while they were crossing the
+range.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Know them?"
+
+"Si," he replied, holding up one finger.
+
+"You mean you know one of them?"
+
+The guide nodded.
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Seņor Lasar."
+
+"Lasar. What's his other name?"
+
+"Juan not know."
+
+"Did they stop in the village?"
+
+"No. Seņors get ponies, ride over mountain," and the guide pointed
+lazily to the south-west.
+
+"Where did they go? Do you know?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he did not.
+
+"What is Mr. Lasar's business?"
+
+Again the guide answered with a shrug. He seemed disinclined to
+discuss the man in whom Tad Butler was so much interested. Up to that
+time the lad had been too fully occupied with other matters to think
+of the conversation he and Stacy had overheard on the Atlantic and
+Pacific train. Now it came back to him with full force.
+
+"Know anybody by the name of Marquand in this country?" he asked,
+taking another tack.
+
+Juan said he did not, and then Tad gave up his questioning.
+
+"I was asking Juan about the two men who sat ahead of us in the train
+yesterday," he explained to Chunky, as the fat boy joined them.
+
+"Wha'd he say?"
+
+"One is named Lasar, but he did not know the other one. I can't help
+believing that those fellows were plotting to do some one a great
+injury."
+
+"So do I," agreed Chunky. "I guess we had better not say anything
+about it to the others, but we'll try to find out who this man Lasar
+is, and who Mr. Marquand is. Then we'll decide what to do next."
+
+Their further conversation was interrupted by the voice of the
+Professor, announcing that they would halt for their noonday meal. All
+other thoughts left the mind of Stacy Brown when the question of food
+was raised. He quickly slipped from his pony, running back to hurry
+the burros along so as to hasten the meal for which he was yearning.
+Only one burro was unpacked, as it was the intention of the outfit to
+push on soon after finishing their lunch.
+
+While the guide, under Ned's direction, was making it ready, Tad and
+Chunky strolled off to climb a high rock that they had seen in the
+vicinity and which, they thought, might give them a good view of the
+plains to the southwest on the other side of the range.
+
+They had promised to be back in half an hour, but circumstances arose
+that caused them to delay their return considerably.
+
+After threshing through the bushes, over sharp rocks and through
+miniature canyons, they gained at last the object of their quest. The
+distance had been further than they had imagined.
+
+"We'll have to make a short trip of it up to the top and back," said
+Tad. "It has taken us almost all our time to get here. But we'll have
+a look, anyway."
+
+They soon gained the top of the rock, which stood some twenty feet
+higher than the crest of the mountain on which it rested.
+
+"Isn't this great?" exclaimed Tad.
+
+"Might think we were in the Rockies."
+
+"Or the Ozarks."
+
+"I hope we don't have as much trouble here as we did in that range.
+Our guide is not much better than the Shawnee we had for a time on
+that trip. I can't see the foothills, but the plain on beyond is
+pretty clear."
+
+"Hope we don't have to chase all over the desert for water. I--"
+
+Tad grasped his companion by the sleeve and jerked him violently to
+the rock.
+
+"What's up? What's the matter with you?" protested Stacy.
+
+"Keep still, some one's coming."
+
+The lad's keen ears had caught a sound which Stacy had entirely failed
+to hear. It was the sound of horses making their way through the
+bushes. There were several in the party, Tad could tell by the sounds,
+and having in mind the man Lasar, he thought he might perhaps learn
+something of advantage by remaining quietly on the top of the rock.
+
+All this he explained in a few brief words to his companion. Then both
+boys crouched low, peering over the cliff, having first removed their
+sombreros.
+
+What they saw, a few moments later, surprised them very much indeed.
+
+The horsemen in single file suddenly appeared out of a draw to the
+east and headed for the rock where the lads were in hiding.
+
+"Look! Look!" exclaimed Tad in a low, suppressed voice.
+
+"I-n-d-i-a-n-s!" breathed Chunky.
+
+They seemed to rise right up out of the ground, as one by one they
+emerged from the draw to the more level rocks that lay about the
+hiding place of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+"I wonder who they are?" questioned Tad.
+
+"They look savage. I wonder if they'd hurt us, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. I do know, though, that I wouldn't trust those ugly
+faces one second. I thought the Blackfeet were savage, but they're not
+to be compared with these redskins."
+
+A full dozen of them had, by this time, come into view. They sat
+huddled on their ponies, their painted faces just appearing above the
+gayly colored blankets in which they were enveloped.
+
+"They must be cold," muttered Chunky. "Shouldn't think they'd need bed
+clothes around them this time of the year."
+
+"Not so loud, Chunky," warned Tad.
+
+"Know what they are, Tad?"
+
+"I wouldn't say positively, but somehow they look to me like Apaches."
+
+Tad's surmise was correct. The twelve warriors were members of the
+savage band that had in past years caused the Government so much
+trouble and bloodshed.
+
+"They're off their reservation, if they are Apaches," whispered the
+lad.
+
+"What does that indicate, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. They may be on the warpath; then, again, they may be
+down here after game. I'm not sure even, if there is any game here.
+We'll lie still until they get by us. That's the best plan; don't you
+think so?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Lie perfectly still, Chunky. The little bushes in front of us will
+screen us, providing we don't move about. Indians have quick eyes,
+though they do look as if they were half asleep."
+
+"They're getting off their horses, Tad. What does that mean?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+Tad peered through the bushes, noting every move that the redskins
+made. At first he thought they had discovered him and were about to
+surround the rock and take him prisoner. But he soon saw that such was
+not their intention. Tethering their ponies, the Indians cast their
+blankets on the ground, after having first picked out a suitable
+place.
+
+"They're making camp," whispered Tad.
+
+One after another of the savages took out his pipe, and soon the odor
+from burning tobacco was wafted to the nostrils of the hidden Pony
+Rider Boys.
+
+"Guess they're going to get some dinner," decided Stacy, observing
+that the strangers were gathering brush.
+
+This was the case. The ponies had been staked where they could browse
+on the green leaves, and now their masters were about to satisfy their
+own appetites.
+
+Tad groaned.
+
+"What is it?" questioned Stacy apprehensively.
+
+"They will be here half of the day at least. I know a little about
+Indians, having been captured by them once. The difference is that my
+Indians were in a hurry to get somewhere. These fellows seem to have
+all the time in the world. They're waiting-- killing time for some
+reason. You'll see, after they finish their dinner, that they will
+smoke some more, then lie down for a catnap."
+
+"And-- and what'll we be doing?"
+
+"We'll be hiding on the top of this rock, Chunky."
+
+"Wish I had my rifle."
+
+"Lucky for both of us that you haven't."
+
+The lads had been talking in whispers, but the words fairly froze in
+their mouths, when, upon glancing down they saw the eyes of a savage
+fixed upon them.
+
+"On your life, don't move a muscle, Chunky," whispered Tad, as soon as
+he had recovered his wits.
+
+Tad was not sure that the Indian saw them, yet there could be no doubt
+that the savage eyes were burning into their very own.
+
+Soon, however, the Indian dropped his glances to his pipe bowl and the
+boys breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"Don't move yet, Chunky," directed Tad.
+
+It was a wise command, for almost instantly the Indian glanced in
+their direction again, and, as if satisfied, emptied his pipe and
+stretched out on his blanket. The two lads breathed sighs of relief.
+
+"Did he see us, do you think, Tad?"
+
+"No. At first he thought he saw something up here, but he changed his
+mind after a little, as you observed."
+
+By this time the redskins were cooking their midday meal, and the odor
+nearly drove Stacy frantic. It made him realize how hungry he was. He
+pulled a leaf from a bush and began chewing it in hopes of wearing off
+the keen edge of his appetite.
+
+"How long we got to stay here?" he demanded. "I've a good notion to
+get up and walk back to camp. They don't dare hurt us."
+
+"Lie still!" commanded his companion sternly. "I have a plan that we
+may be able to put into operation. We can't do it now, though."
+
+The lads waited, Tad almost with the patience of an Indian, Chunky ill
+at ease and restless.
+
+"Can't you lie still? What ails you?"
+
+"My stomach's fighting my appetite. Hear 'em growl at each other?"
+
+"S-h-h-h."
+
+"I don't care. I'd 'bout as soon be scalped as to starve to death."
+
+The braves had by now filled their stomachs, gulping their food down
+without the formality of chewing it at all. Stacy's amazement was
+partly mixed with admiration as he observed the food disappear with
+such rapidity.
+
+Now the braves had begun puffing at their pipes. After a time, one by
+one laid down his smoking bowl and stretched himself out for a nap,
+just as Tad had said they would. The savages were spread out so that
+they had a very good view of three sides of the rock on which the two
+lads were perched, but the fourth side was hidden from them. Tad
+decided that, as the Indians showed no intention of moving, they were
+going to remain where they were until night.
+
+"I want you to follow me, Chunky," Butler said, determined to try his
+plan. "You will have to move absolutely without a sound. Look before
+you put down foot or hand. Be sure where you place them. We'll wait a
+few minutes until they're sound asleep."
+
+"What you going to do-- sneak?"
+
+"Try to get back to camp. The others will be coming along looking for
+us pretty soon, if we don't get away. The Indians might resent being
+disturbed, and perhaps make trouble."
+
+"Tell me when you're ready, then."
+
+Some minutes had elapsed and the lads could plainly hear the snores of
+their besiegers.
+
+"Now!" whispered Tad.
+
+At the same time he began crawling toward the edge of the rock at
+their rear. Stacy was close upon his heels.
+
+The side which the boys were to descend was much more precipitous than
+the one they had come up by, but offered no very great difficulties
+for two nimble boys. Proceeding with infinite caution, they gained the
+ground without a mishap.
+
+"We'll walk straight on in this direction, until we get out of sight;
+then we can turn to the left and hurry to the camp."
+
+Stacy nodded. As he did so his eyes were off the ground for a few
+seconds. Those few seconds proved his undoing.
+
+The lad stepped on a stone that gave way under him, turning his ankle
+almost upon its side.
+
+"Ouch!" yelled Chunky.
+
+"Now you've done it," snapped Tad. "We'll have the whole pack of them
+down on us. Can you walk?"
+
+"I-- I don't know. I'll try."
+
+"Take hold of my hand. You've got to run."
+
+The redskins were on their feet in an instant. A few bounds carried
+them around the rock whence the exclamation had come. By this time Tad
+had dragged his companion into the bushes but not quickly enough to
+elude the keen eyes of the savages.
+
+The Indians uttered a short, sharp cry, then aimed their rifles at the
+figures of the two fleeing Pony Rider Boys.
+
+Tad saw the movement. He threw himself prone upon the ground, jerking
+Chunky down beside him.
+
+They were screened from the eyes of the enemy, for the moment.
+
+"Crawl! Crawl!" commanded Tad.
+
+On hands and feet the boys began running rapidly over the ground, on
+down into a narrow gulch. If they could gain the opposite side they
+would be safe, as it was unlikely that the Indians would follow them
+there. To do so, the boys were obliged to cross an open space. They
+had just reached it, when their pursuers appeared behind them. Once
+more the Indians raised their rifles, their fingers exerting a gentle
+pressure on the triggers.
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+
+ ON THE TRAIL OF JUAN
+
+"Look out! They're going to shoot!" cried Tad.
+
+The lads quickly rolled in opposite directions.
+
+"Hallo-o, Tad!"
+
+The call was in the stentorian voice of Professor Zepplin, to which
+Ned Rector added a shout of his own.
+
+Fearing that some ill had befallen Tad and Stacy, the others had
+started out after them. Following them came Walter and the lazy
+Mexican.
+
+"We're down here! Look out for the Indians!" warned Tad in a loud
+voice.
+
+"You're crazy!" jeered Ned. "Come out of that. What ails you fellows?
+The dinner's stone cold and Professor Zepplin is all in the stew."
+
+Tad scrambled to his feet, with a quick glance at the top of the
+ridge, where, but a moment before, half a dozen rifles had been
+leveled at Chunky and himself.
+
+Not an Indian was in sight. Tad was amazed. He could not understand
+it. Grabbing Stacy by an arm he hurried him up the other side of the
+gulch, where they quickly joined their companions.
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded the Professor.
+
+"Hurry! We must get out of this. It's Indians!"
+
+"They-- they wanted to scalp us," interjected Stacy.
+
+"But you runned away, eh? Brave man!" chuckled Ned.
+
+"Indians! There are no Indians here.
+
+"I'll tell you about it when we get to camp. They were just about to
+shoot at us when you appeared up here."
+
+"'Pache bad Injun," vouchsafed Juan.
+
+"Were those Apaches?" questioned Tad.
+
+The guide shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I was sure they were, though I do not think I ever saw an Apache
+before. They don't live about here, do they, Juan?"
+
+"'Pache off reservation. Him go dance. Firewater! Ugh!" making a
+motion as if scalping himself.
+
+"I'm hungry," called Stacy.
+
+"Yes; so am I," added Tad. "But I think we had better not wait to eat.
+We can take a bite in the saddle while we are moving."
+
+Stacy protested loudly at this, but Tad's judgment prevailed with the
+Professor, after the boys had related their experience in detail. All
+hands began at once to pack up the few belongings that had been taken
+from the burro, and once more they started on their way, moving
+somewhat more rapidly than had been the case in the early part of the
+day.
+
+"I don't suppose there will be much use in our hurrying, Professor,"
+said the lad, after they had been going a short time. "I know enough
+about Indians to be sure those fellows will follow us until they
+satisfy themselves who and what we are. They are up to some mischief,
+and they thought we were spying on them. Otherwise, I do not believe
+they would have tried to shoot us. Don't know as you could blame them
+much."
+
+"I am inclined to agree with you, Master Tad. It will be good policy
+not to pay any attention to them if we discover any of them. Just go
+right along about our business as if we didn't see them at all."
+
+"And you're not likely to," grinned Tad. "Where did you say they were
+going, Juan?"
+
+"'Pache, go dance."
+
+"He means they're bound for a pow-wow somewhere. That explains it,"
+nodded the lad.
+
+The rest of the day passed without incident. Not a sign of the Indians
+did the boys see. As a matter of fact, the roving redskins were as
+anxious to keep out of the sight of the Pony Riders as the boys were
+to have them do so.
+
+The party enjoyed the trip over the mountains immensely; and, when, a
+few days later, they made camp in the foothills on the southern side
+of the Zuni range, the boys declared that they had never had a better
+time.
+
+Professor Zepplin decided that they would remain in that camp for a
+couple of days, as he desired to make some scientific investigations
+and collect geological specimens. This suited the rest of the party,
+who were free to make as many side trips as they wished, into mountain
+fastnesses or over the plains to the south of them.
+
+Early in the day the guide asked permission to go away for an hour or
+so. They noticed that he had been uneasy, apparently anxious to get
+away for some reason unknown to them.
+
+"He's got something up his sleeve," decided Tad, eyeing Juan narrowly.
+
+"You may go, but we shall expect you back in time for the noon meal,"
+the Professor told him.
+
+"Give me money," requested the guide.
+
+"Certainly. Let me see, you have worked a week. I gave you five
+dollars when we started out. You were to have ten dollars a week while
+you were with us. That leaves five dollars due you," announced the
+Professor.
+
+"Me work week. Me want ten dollars."
+
+"But, my man, I've already paid you five dollars, which pays you for
+half of the week. Here is the five dollars for the other half. That's
+all I owe you. Do you understand?"
+
+"Si seņor. But Juan work one week," protested the guide.
+
+"Let me show him," interrupted Tad. He drew ten marks in the sand with
+a stick, separating them into two groups of five. "Here are ten marks,
+Juan. We'll call them ten dollars. Understand?"
+
+"Si."
+
+"Well, here are the first five marks in the dirt that the Professor
+paid you. How many does that leave?"
+
+"Five," gleamed the white teeth.
+
+"Right. Go to the head of the class," interrupted Stacy.
+
+"Chunky, you keep out of this. You'll mix him up."
+
+"Guess somebody's mixed up already," retorted the fat boy.
+
+"Five is right," continued Tad. Five dollars is what we owe you. Is
+that clear now?"
+
+"Si, seņor. But I work one week. Juan earn ten dollar--"
+
+"I'll tell you what to do," interjected Ned. "Start all over again.
+You begin work to-day; Juan, and we'll pay you ten dollars for every
+week from now on. You haven't worked for us before to-day, you know."
+
+The lads laughed heartily, but Juan merely showed his teeth,
+protesting that he had earned ten dollars.
+
+"Here," said Tad, thrusting a five dollar bill at him. "You take this.
+It's all we owe you. If you see any of your friends, you ask them how
+much we owe you. They'll tell you the Professor is right."
+
+Juan took the money greedily, still protesting that they owed him ten
+dollars, because he had worked a week. Mounting his burro, he rode
+away; at once falling into the marvelous speed that he had shown them
+on the first day out.
+
+The lads shouted with laughter as they saw burro and rider disappear
+among the foothills, both running for all they were worth, Juan
+uttering his shrill "yi-yi's," as he pedaled the ground.
+
+That was the last they saw of the Mexican guide that day. The rest of
+the day was employed in games, trick riding, rope throwing and the
+like. Stacy found some horned frogs, which were of considerable
+interest to the boys. Chunky made the discovery that the frogs liked
+to have their backs scratched with a stick, and the frogs of the
+foothills probably never spent such a happy day in all their lives as
+Chunky and his stick provided for them that afternoon.
+
+Late in the day, it dawned upon the boys that Juan was still absent.
+They consulted with the Professor about this, upon his return from a
+collecting trip along the foot of the mountains. But the Professor was
+sure Juan would be in in time for supper.
+
+Such was not the case, however. After the meal had been finished Tad
+announced his intention of riding off in the direction Juan had gone,
+to see if the guide could not be found.
+
+"I'll go with you," announced Stacy.
+
+"All right; come along," said Tad, tightening his saddle girths.
+"We'll have a fine gallop."
+
+"Be careful that you do not get lost, boys," warned the Professor.
+
+"Can't get lost. All we have to do is to follow the foothills. We
+shall probably find Juan and his burro sound asleep on an ant-hill
+somewhere. He's positively the laziest human being I ever set eyes
+on."
+
+"Better take along five dollars to bait him with," suggested Ned.
+
+"I've got my stick," said Stacy. "I'll tickle the back of the burro
+and its rider, just as I did the frogs."
+
+"You try that on the burro and he'll kick you into the middle of next
+week," warned Walter.
+
+"Yes," laughed Tad. "Did you see him kick when Juan tossed a tomato
+can against his heels this morning ? Kicked the can clear over a tree
+and out of sight."
+
+"He'd make a good batter for the Chillicothe baseball team," suggested
+Chunky. "He'd be the only real batter in the nine. They could turn him
+loose on the umpire when they didn't need him on the diamond. Wouldn't
+it be funny to see some umpires kicked over the high board fence?"
+
+"Come along if you are going with me."
+
+Stacy swung into his saddle, and, galloping off, caught up with Tad,
+who was in a hurry to get back to camp before dark.
+
+"Keep your eyes to the right, Chunky, and I'll look on the left. If
+you see anything that looks like a lazy Mexican and a lazy burro, just
+call out."
+
+"I'll run over them, that's what I'll do," declared the fat boy.
+"Hello, there's a fellow on horseback."
+
+"I see him."
+
+The lads changed their course a little so as to head off the solitary
+horseman, who was loping along in something of a hurry.
+
+"Howdy," greeted the lad.
+
+"Evening, stranger. Where you hail from and where to?"
+
+"We're in camp back here. I'm looking for our guide, a Mexican named
+Juan. He went away this morning and we haven't seen him since."
+
+"And you won't so long as his money holds out," laughed the horseman.
+
+"Then, you've seen him? Will you tell me where I may find him?"
+
+"Sure thing, boy, but I reckon you'd better not be going any further?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"He's over yonder, gambling with some renegade Apaches."
+
+"Apaches!" exclaimed the lads in one voice. "Those must be the same
+fellows we saw up in the range. But how do you suppose he knew they
+were over there?"
+
+"He? Those Greasers know everything except what they ought to know--
+especially if there's any games of chance going on."
+
+"Will you please tell me how we can reach the place? We want to make a
+very early start in the morning, and I don't like to take a chance of
+his not getting back in time."
+
+"If ye're bound to go, keep right along the edge of the foothills. You
+can't miss the place. Better keep away if you don't want to be getting
+into a mix-up. There's going to be lively doings over there pretty
+soon," warned the stranger.
+
+"How do you mean? I've seen Indians before. Guess they won't hurt us
+if they let Juan pow-wow with them."
+
+"This is different, young man. They're going to hold a fire dance
+to-night--"
+
+"A fire dance?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I thought they weren't allowed to do that any more?"
+
+"They ain't, but they will. There's a bunch of Sabobas from over the
+line. They're the original fire eaters. They come over here kind of
+secret like. Then there's Pueblos, 'Paches, and bad ones from every
+tribe within a hundred miles of here. Been making smoke signals from
+the mountains for more'n a week past--"
+
+"I saw that yesterday and thought it was intended as a signal."
+
+"Right."
+
+"But you don't think there will be any danger in just going after our
+guide, do you?"
+
+"Boy, they'll be letting blood before morning, even if the Government
+doesn't drop down on the picnic and clean out the whole bunch of them.
+There is sure to be trouble before morning."
+
+"Thank you," said Tad, touching his pony;
+
+"Going on?" questioned the horseman.
+
+"Yes; I'm going to fetch Juan," replied Tad, touching spurs to his
+pony and galloping away, followed by Stacy Brown.
+
+The horseman sat his saddle watching the receding forms of the two
+Pony Rider Boys until they disappeared behind a butte in the
+foothills.
+
+"Well, if those kids ain't got the sand!" he muttered.
+
+  CHAPTER V
+
+ A DARING ACT
+
+"If you don't want to go with me you may go back, Chunky. Perhaps one
+would not be as likely to get into trouble as two. You can find your
+way, can't you?"
+
+"I go back? Think I'm a tenderfoot? Huh! Guess I ain't afraid of any
+cheap Wild West Indians. I'm going with you, Tad."
+
+"Very well; but see to it that you keep in the background. You have a
+habit of getting into trouble on the slightest provocation."
+
+"So do you," retorted Stacy.
+
+The ponies had been urged to their best pace by this time. Twilight
+had fallen and darkness would settle over them in a very short time
+now, though a new moon hovered pale and weak in the blue sky above.
+Tad knew this, so he did not worry about the return trip.
+
+"We should be sighting the place pretty soon," he muttered.
+
+"I see a light," announced Stacy.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"To the right. Over that low butte there."
+
+"Yes; that's so. I see it now. You have sharp eyes," laughed Tad.
+
+"I can see when there's anything to see."
+
+"And eat when there's food to be had," added Tad.
+
+"Think those are the Indians that wanted to shoot us, Tad?" he asked,
+with a trace of apprehension in his voice.
+
+Tad glanced at his companion keenly;
+
+"Getting cold feet, Chunky?"
+
+"No!" roared the fat boy.
+
+"I beg your pardon," grinned Tad. "I didn't mean to insult you."
+
+"Better not. Look out that you don't get chilblains on your own feet.
+May need a hot mustard bath yourself before you get through."
+
+They rounded the butte. A full quarter of a mile ahead of them
+flickered a large fire, with several smaller blazes twinkling here and
+there about it. Shadowy figures were observed moving back and forth,
+some with rapid movements, others in slow, methodical steps.
+
+"There must be a lot of them, Tad."
+
+"Looks that way. I wonder where we shall find the guide."
+
+Both boys fell silent for a time, and as they drew nearer to the scene
+pulled their ponies down to a walk. Tad concluded to make a detour
+half way round the camp in order to get a clump of bushes that he had
+observed between them and the redskins. From that point of vantage he
+would be able to get a closer view, and perhaps locate the man for
+whom he was looking.
+
+Riding in, they were soon swallowed up in the shadows.
+
+"Hold my pony a moment," directed Tad, slipping to the ground.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Nowhere, just this minute. I'm going to look around."
+
+The lad peered through the bushes until, uttering a low exclamation,
+he turned to his companion.
+
+"I see him. He's over on the other side--"
+
+"Who? Juan?"
+
+"Yes. Now I want you to remain right here. Don't move away. I'll tie
+my pony so he won't give you any trouble. Sit perfectly quiet, and if
+any Indians come along don't bother them. I'm going around the
+outside, so I don't have to pass through the crowd, though they seem
+too busy to notice anyone."
+
+Tad slipped away in the shadows until he came to a spot opposite where
+he had caught a glimpse of the lazy Mexican.
+
+He discovered Juan in the center of a circle of dusky Indians who were
+squatting on the ground. Some of the braves were clothed in
+nondescript garments, while others were attired in gaudy blankets.
+These were the gamblers.
+
+At that moment their efforts were concentrated on winning from Juan
+the wages of his first week's work with the Pony Rider Boys. A blanket
+had been spread over the ground, and on this they were wagering small
+amounts on the throw of the dice, a flickering camp-fire near by dimly
+lighting up the blanket and making the reading of the dice a difficult
+matter for any but the keenest of eyes. The sing-song calls of the
+players added to the weirdness of the scene.
+
+Tad waited long enough to observe that the guide lost nearly every
+time, the stolid-faced red men raking in his coins with painful
+regularity.
+
+"It's a wonder he has a cent left. But they're not playing for very
+large amounts, as near as I can tell."
+
+Each time the Mexican lost he would utter a shrill "si, si," then
+lured by the hope that Dame Fortune would favor him, reached greedily
+for the next throw.
+
+"It's time for me to do something," muttered Tad.
+
+Stepping boldly from his cover, he walked up to the edge of the
+circle.
+
+"Juan!" he called sharply.
+
+"Si," answered the Mexican, without looking up.
+
+"Juan!"
+
+This time the word was uttered in a more commanding voice.
+
+"You come with me!"
+
+The guide, oblivious to all beyond the terrible fascination of the
+game he was playing, gave no heed to Tad Butler's stern command. Three
+times did Tad call to him, but without result. One of the red men cast
+an angry glance in the Tad's direction, and then returned to his play.
+
+Without an instant's hesitation, Tad sprang over into the center of
+the circle, and grasping Juan by an ear, jerked him to his feet.
+
+Red hands fell to belts and dark faces scowled menacingly at the
+intruder.
+
+"You come with me, Juan!"
+
+Juan sought to jerk away, but under the strong pull on his ear, he did
+not find it advisable to force himself from his captor's grip.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You're lucky if Professor
+Zepplin doesn't give you another dose of hot drops for this. I suppose
+these Indians sat down to rob you," growled Tad.
+
+"No, no, no," protested Juan.
+
+By this time the Indian gamblers had leaped to their feet, an ugly
+light in their eyes that boded ill for the Pony Rider Boy who had
+interrupted them in the process of fleecing the Mexican.
+
+With one accord they barred the way in a solid human wall. Tad found
+himself hemmed in on all sides. It had been easy to gain an entrance
+to the circle, but getting out of it was another matter.
+
+"This man belongs to me," he said with as much courage in his tone as
+he was able to command. "You will please step aside and let us go.
+You're breaking the law. If you offer any resistance I'll have the
+government officers after you in short order."
+
+He could not have said a worse thing under the circumstances. At first
+they took him for a spy, possibly a Government spy. Now they were sure
+of it, for had not the lad told them so himself?
+
+With a growl, one who appeared to be the most important personage in
+the group drew his sheath knife and sprang straight at the slender
+figure of Tad Butler.
+
+Tad acted without an instant's hesitation.
+
+Stepping aside quickly; he cleverly avoided the knife-thrust. At the
+same instant, while the Indian was off his balance, not yet having
+recovered from the lunge, the Pony Rider Boy's fist and the Indian's
+jaw met in sudden collision.
+
+The impact of the blow might have been heard more than a rod away.
+
+The red man's blanket dropped from his shoulders; he staggered
+backward, made a supreme effort to pull himself together, then dropped
+in a heap at the feet of the boy who had felled him.
+
+Without waiting for the astonished red gamblers to recover their wits,
+Tad grasped an arm of the Mexican and sprang away into the bushes.
+
+He had done a serious thing, even though in self-protection. He had
+knocked down an Apache brave with his fist. The sting of that blow
+would rest upon the savage jaw until the insult was wiped out by the
+victim himself.
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+ THE FIRE DANCE OF THE RED MEN
+
+The Indians made a sudden move to pursue the lad who had done so
+daring a thing. One of their number restrained them, pointing to the
+fallen brave, as much as to say, "Revenge is for him!"
+
+With a shrug of their shoulders the Indians sank down and resumed
+their game as stoically as before. They gave no further heed to the
+unconscious Apache, who still lay just outside the circle where he had
+been knocked out by Tad's blow.
+
+"Hurry! Hurry!" commanded the lad, fairly dragging his companion
+along. "They'll be after us in a minute."
+
+Yet before the minute had elapsed Tad had halted suddenly, his
+wondering eyes fixed upon the scene that was being enacted before him.
+
+About a pit of red hot coals, naked save for the breech clouts they
+wore, swayed the bodies of half-a-dozen powerful braves.
+
+They were the fire dancers and Tad was gazing upon a scene that
+probably never will he seen again in this country-- the last of the
+fire dances-- a secret dance of which it was to be supposed the
+Government agents knew nothing.
+
+Back and forth waved the copper-colored line, right up to the edge of
+the pit of glowing coals, uttering a weird chant, which was taken up
+by others who were not in the dance.
+
+The voices of the chanters grew louder, their excitement waxed higher,
+as the thrill of song and dance pulsed through their veins.
+
+All at once, Tad was horrified to see one of the dancers leap into the
+air, uttering a mighty shriek. While still clear of the ground the
+dancer's body turned, then he dove head first into the bed of hot
+coals. He was out in an instant.
+
+The chant rose higher as the remaining dancers followed the leader
+into the burning pit and out of it. So quickly did they move that they
+seemed not to feel the heat, and from Tad's point of vantage, he was
+sure that none was burned in the slightest.
+
+Juan tried to pull away. But Tad held him in a firm grip.
+
+Now that the dancers had passed through the fire unscathed, others
+followed them, some no more than touching the live coals, then
+bounding out on the other side of the pit; others remaining long
+enough to roll swiftly across the glowing bed.
+
+Excitement was rapidly waxing higher and higher. The red men were in a
+dangerous mood. It boded ill for the paleface who sought to interfere
+with their carnival at this moment.
+
+"Come!" whispered Tad in a low, tense voice. "We've got to get out of
+this mighty quick! Chunky's probably half scared to death, too."
+
+Tad did not go far. He had scarcely taken half a dozen steps when a
+frenzied yell, a series of shrill shrieks sounded in the air. The
+sounds seemed to come from all directions at once.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Me not know."
+
+"Somebody's running a pony. I hear it coming. It's headed right for
+that bunch of crazy savages. Probably an Indian gone mad."
+
+It was not an Indian who was the cause of this new disturbance, as the
+lad discovered almost immediately afterward.
+
+"Yip, yip! Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!"
+
+The yells were uttered in the shrill voice of Stacy Brown.
+
+"It's Chunky!" groaned Tad. "Here's trouble in earnest!"
+
+They never knew just how it happened, and Chunky could not tell them,
+but in all probability the excitement had been too much for the fat
+boy!
+
+He had moved closer when the dancing began, and the fever of it got
+into his veins until his excitement had reached a pitch beyond his
+control.
+
+With a series of howls and yells, the fat boy drove the rowels of the
+spurs deep into his pony's aides.
+
+The animal dashed forward at a break-neck pace.
+
+Stacy headed straight for the glowing pit, yelling with every leap of
+the pony.
+
+Tad gazed spellbound. He seemed powerless to move. He had been deeply
+affected by the scenes he had seen; but this was different. The lad
+held his breath.
+
+Reaching the edge of the pit, Stacy's pony rose in the air, clearing
+the bed of coals in a long, curving leap.
+
+Two red men had just risen from their fiery bath. The hind hoofs of
+the pony caught and bowled them over.
+
+"Run to the camp and get help! Take my pony! Ride for your life! Don't
+lose a second!" gasped Tad, giving the lazy Mexican a shove that sent
+him stumbling until he had measured his length upon the ground.
+
+Juan picked himself up slowly; and, crawling away into the bushes, lay
+down to rest or hide.
+
+Stacy's pony landed fairly in the center of a bunch of half-clothed
+savages; some of whom went down under the pony when it landed on them
+so unexpectedly.
+
+The next instant the fat boy had been jerked from the animal's back,
+to which he was clinging desperately.
+
+With a yell the redskins hurled him toward the fire. But the force of
+the throw had not been quite strong enough. Stacy landed on the edge
+of the pit, rolling half into it, the upper part of his body being on
+the ground to which he was hanging, yelling lustily. His shod feet
+were in the fire, however, but as yet he did not realize that his
+clothes were burning.
+
+Tad Butler sprang quickly from his hiding place.
+
+"Crawl out!" he roared. "You'll be burned alive!"
+
+"I-- I can't. I fell in," piped Stacy, all his bravery gone now.
+
+Tad leaped across the intervening space and bounded to the side of his
+companion.
+
+"Ouch! I'm on fire!" shrieked Stacy.
+
+Tad grabbed and hauled him from his dangerous position. One of Tad's
+feet slipped in while he was doing so. By this time the clothes of
+both lads had begun to smoulder.
+
+"Run for it! Better be burned than scalped!" shouted Tad.
+
+Holding to Chunky's arm the Pony Rider Boy started to run. He was
+tripped by a moccasined foot before they had gone ten feet. Both boys
+fell headlong. Ere they could rise half a dozen mad savages were upon
+them.
+
+The lads were jerked roughly to their feet, Chunky shivering, Tad pale
+but resolute. There was nothing that he could say or do to repair the
+damage that his companion had done.
+
+One whom the lad took to be a chief, from his head-dress and
+commanding appearance, pushed his way into the crowd about the two
+boys, hurling the red men aside with reckless sweeps of his powerful
+arms.
+
+"Ugh!" he grunted, folding his arms and gazing sternly at the two
+prisoners.
+
+"Who you?"
+
+Tad explained as best he could.
+
+"Why you do this?"
+
+"My friend here got excited," Tad declared.
+
+"Huh! Lie!"
+
+Tad's face burned. He could scarcely resist the impulse to resent the
+imputation that the savage had cast upon him. He conquered the
+inclination with an effort.
+
+"Sir, we had no wish to interfere with you. We came here to get one of
+our men who had come here to gamble. If you will release us we will
+return to our camp and give you no further trouble. I promise you
+that."
+
+"T-h-h-h-at's so," chattered Chunky.
+
+"Keep still," whispered Tad. "You'll get us into more trouble."
+
+The chief appeared to be debating the question in his own mind, when
+one of the men, whom Tad recognized as a member of the gambling
+circle, whispered something to the chief.
+
+The chief's eyes blazed. Uttering a succession of gutteral sounds, he
+gave some quick directions to the red men near him.
+
+"He makes a noise like a litter of pigs," muttered Chunky.
+
+Acting upon the chief's direction two braves grabbed the lads, and
+hurried them away, Tad meanwhile watching for an opportunity to break
+away. Had he been alone, he felt sure he could do so safely. But he
+would not leave his companion, of course.
+
+The Apaches took the boys a short distance from the camp, planked them
+down roughly with their backs to a rock.
+
+"Now, I wonder what next?" muttered Tad.
+
+While one of the braves stood guard over them, the second trotted back
+to the camp, returning after a few minutes with a third savage who
+carried a rifle.
+
+The boys were sure then that they were to be shot.
+
+"Huh! You run, brave shoot um!" warned one of the first pair, after
+which parting injunction the two captors strode away, leaving their
+companion to guard the boys.
+
+For a few moments the Indian walked up and down in front of them,
+keeping his eyes fixed on the lads. Tad noted that he walked rather
+unsteadily. Finally, the guard sat down facing them, some ten feet
+away.
+
+"Well, you've certainly gone and done it this time, Chunky," said Tad
+in a low voice. "What on earth made you do a crazy thing like that?"
+
+"I-- I don't know."
+
+"Well, it's too late for regrets. All we can do will be to make the
+best of our situation and watch for an opportunity to get away."
+
+For several minutes the boys sat gazing at the stolid figure before
+them. Tad's mind was working, though his body was not.
+
+"Make believe you're going to sleep, but don't overdo it," whispered
+Tad.
+
+This was something that Stacy could do, and he did it with such
+naturalness that Tad could not repress a smile.
+
+"That Indian is dazed from his excitement, and if we make him think
+we're asleep he's likely to relax his vigilance," mused Tad, as the
+two boys gradually leaned closer together, soon to all appearances
+being wrapped in sleep. Little by little the Indian's head nodded.
+
+Finally he toppled over to one side, the rifle lying across his feet.
+
+Tad and Chunky remained motionless.
+
+The Indian snored.
+
+The boys waited. Soon the snores became regular. The moment for action
+had arrived.
+
+Tad pinched Chunky.
+
+"Huh! Wat'cher want?"
+
+The fat boy had in reality been asleep.
+
+"For goodness sake, keep quiet!" begged Tad in a whisper. "Don't you
+know there's an Indian with a gun guarding us? He's asleep. Come, but
+be quiet if you value your life at all. Anyway; remember that I want
+to save mine."
+
+Stacy was wide awake now. Together the lads crawled cautiously away,
+every nerve on the alert. Over by the pit of live coals the uproar
+was, if any thing, louder than before.
+
+The boys gave that part of the camp a wide berth.
+
+"Now get up and run!" commanded Tad. "Raise your feet off the ground,
+so that you won't fall over every pebble you come to."
+
+Tad and Chunky clasped hands and scurried through the bushes, making
+as little noise as possible, and rapidly putting considerable distance
+between them and the sleeping red man who had been set to watch them.
+
+"Having lots of fun, ain't we, Tad?"
+
+"Fun! You're lucky if you get off with a whole scalp--"
+
+"Wow!" exclaimed Stacy.
+
+The lads brought up suddenly.
+
+At first they were not sure what had disturbed them, that is, Tad was
+not. This time Stacy had seen more clearly than his companion.
+
+"Ugh!" grunted a voice right in front of them, and there before their
+amazed eyes stood an Indian. To their imaginations, he was magnified
+until he appeared nearly as tall as the moonlit mountains in the
+background.
+
+For one hesitating instant the lads stood staring at the figure
+looming over them.
+
+With an angry growl the red man bounded toward them. He had recognized
+the boys and was determined that they should not escape him.
+
+It was Stacy Brown's wits that saved the situation this time. As the
+Indian came at them the fat boy dived between the savage's naked legs,
+uttering a short, sharp yelp, for all the world just like that of a
+small dog attempting to frighten off a bigger antagonist.
+
+There could be only one result following Chunky's unexpected tactics.
+Mr. Redskin flattened himself on the ground prone upon his face.
+Somehow the fellow was slightly stunned by the fall, not having had
+time to save himself from a violent bump on the head.
+
+"Run for it, Chunky! He'll be after us in a second."
+
+The lads made a lively sprint for the open. In a moment, observing
+that they were not being followed, they halted, still in the shadows
+of the bushes. All at once Tad stumbled over an object in the dark. At
+first he thought it was another Indian, and both boys were about to
+run again, when the voice of the prostrate man caused them to laugh
+instead.
+
+"Si, si, seņor," muttered the fellow.
+
+"Juan? It's Juan! Get up! You here yet?"
+
+They pulled the lazy guide to his feet, starting off with him, when
+all at once Tad happened to think that one of the ponies was back
+there somewhere among the Indians.
+
+"You stay here, and don't make a fool of yourself this time!"
+commanded Tad.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"After your pony. You hang on to Juan. I'll hold you responsible for
+him, Chunky."
+
+"Guess I can take care of a lazy Mexican if I can floor a redskin,"
+answered Stacy proudly.
+
+But Tad was off. He had not heard the last remark of his companion. In
+picking his way carefully around the camp to where he had seen a lot
+of ponies tethered, Tad found a Navajo blanket. He quickly possessed
+himself of it, throwing it over his head, wrapping himself in its
+folds.
+
+He was now in plain sight of the wild antics of the dancers, who,
+still mad with the excitement of the hour, were performing all manner
+of weird movements. For a moment, the lad squatted down to watch them.
+He had been there but a short time when a voice at his side startled
+him, and Tad was about to take a fresh sprint when he realized that it
+was not the voice of a savage.
+
+"Young man, you'd better light out of here while you've got the
+chance," said the stranger.
+
+Turning sharply, Tad discovered a man, who, like himself, was wrapped
+in a gaudy blanket. He was unable to see the man's face, which was
+hidden under the Navajo.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded the lad sharply.
+
+"I'm an Indian agent. I only got wind of this proposed fire dance late
+this afternoon. These men will all be punished unless they return to
+their reservations peaceably. If they do, they will be let go with a
+warning."
+
+"Do they know you're here?"
+
+"They? Not much," laughed the agent.
+
+"But supposing they ask you a question?"
+
+"I can talk all the different tribal languages represented here. You'd
+better go now. Where are you from?"
+
+Tad explained briefly.
+
+"Well, you have had a narrow escape tonight. If they catch you again
+they'll make short work of you."
+
+"They won't catch me. Thank you and good-bye."
+
+"Don't go that way. Strike straight back; then you will have an open
+course."
+
+"I'm going after my companion's pony. I think I know where to find
+it," answered Tad, wrapping the blanket about himself and stealing
+across an open moonlit space without attracting attention.
+
+The Indian agent watched him curiously for a moment; then he rose and
+followed quickly after Tad.
+
+"That boy is either a fool-- which I don't think-- or else he doesn't
+know the meaning of the word 'fear.'"
+
+Tad did not find Stacy's pony where he had expected. Indian ponies
+were tethered all about, singly and in groups, while here and there
+one was left to graze where it would.
+
+"What sort of a looking pony is yours?" questioned the agent, coming
+up to him.
+
+"A roan."
+
+"Then I think I know where he is. He was not like the horses in this
+vicinity, which attracted my attention to him."
+
+The agent led the way, in a roundabout course, to the south side of
+the camp, where they began looking over the animals. Occasionally a
+redskin would pass them, but no one gave either the slightest heed.
+
+"Here he is," whispered Tad."
+
+"Lead him off. Don't mount just yet."
+
+Tad did as the agent had suggested. But all at once something
+happened. Tad's blanket had dropped from his shoulders, revealing him
+in his true colors. An Indian uttered a yell. Tad sprang into his
+saddle and put spurs to the pony. In a moment more than a dozen
+redskins had mounted and started yelling after him, believing he was
+stealing a pony.
+
+Tad headed away to the south to give his companions a chance to get
+out of the way, and the savages came in full cry after him.
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+
+ FLEEING FROM THE ENEMY
+
+A shrill cry was wafted to the boy.
+
+After a few moments Tad realized that they were no longer on his
+trail. He knew the cry had been a signal, warning them to halt. What
+he did not know, however, was that the Indian agent had been
+responsible for the signal; that he in all probability had saved the
+boy's life.
+
+The lad, after satisfying himself that the Indians had abandoned the
+chase, at once circled about, coming back to the point where he had
+left Chunky and the Mexican. They were both there waiting for him.
+
+"What was all that row?" demanded the fat boy. "We were having a
+little horse race, that's all," grinned Tad grimly; "Hurry along,
+now."
+
+They reached their own camp in safety an hour later. The two boys had
+much to relate, and as the narration proceeded, Professor Zepplin
+shook his head disapprovingly.
+
+"Young gentlemen, much as I have enjoyed this summer's outing, it's a
+wonder I haven't had nervous prostration long before this. It'll be a
+load off my mind if I get you all back in Chillicothe without anything
+serious happening to you."
+
+"I think," suggested Tad, "that we had better strike camp at once and
+move on. The moon is shining brightly, and Juan ought to have no
+trouble in leading the way."
+
+"Yes; that will be an excellent idea. You think they may give as
+further trouble?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"They may before morning. They're getting more ugly every minute."
+
+"Everything worth while seems to happen when I am not around,"
+protested Ned.
+
+"Good thing you weren't along," replied Stacy. "You'd been scared
+stiff. It was no place for tenderfeet."
+
+"You-- you call me a tenderfoot?" snapped Ned, starting for him.
+
+"Stop quarreling, you two!" commanded Tad. "We've had all the fighting
+we want for one night. Get busy and help strike this camp. Guess none
+of this outfit could truthfully be called a tenderfoot. We've all had
+our share of hard knocks, and we'll have enough to look back to and
+think about when we get home and have time to go over our experiences
+together this winter."
+
+The thought, that at any minute the half-crazed savages might sweep
+down on them hastened the preparations for departure. The Pony Rider
+Boys never struck camp more quickly than they did in the soft southern
+moonlight that night.
+
+All at once Juan set up a wail.
+
+"What is it-- what's the trouble now?" demanded Tad.
+
+"My burro. I go for him."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort. You'll walk, or ride a pack animal,"
+answered Stacy. "You don't deserve to have a burro."
+
+"Here's his old burro now," called Walter, as a shambling object, much
+the worse for wear, came stumbling sleepily into camp.
+
+The boys set up a shout that was quickly checked by Tad.
+
+"If the burro can find the way what do you think an Indian could do,
+fellows?"
+
+"That's right," agreed Professor Zepplin. "We had better keep quiet--"
+
+"And hit the trail as fast as possible," added Tad. "Daylight must
+find us a long ways from here."
+
+"And ride all night-- is that what you mean?" complained Stacy.
+
+"Yes; it'll give you an appetite for breakfast."
+
+"I've got one already."
+
+"That goes without saying," agreed Ned.
+
+"Come, come, Juan!" urged Tad, observing that the guide was doing
+nothing more in the way of work than rubbing the nose of his prodigal
+burro. "Aren't you going to help us?"
+
+"Yes; what do you think we're paying you good American dollars for?"
+demanded Ned.
+
+"I think some of the Professor's hot drops would be good for what ails
+him," observed Stacy Brown. "I'll get the Professor to give him a dose
+right now."
+
+"No, no, no! Juan no want fire drops."
+
+"All right; get busy, then."
+
+He did. Not since the last dose of the Professor's medicine had he
+shown such activity. Very soon after that the camp had been struck and
+the party was ready to take up its journey.
+
+Tad took a last look about, to make sure that nothing had been left.
+
+"I think I'll put out the fire," he said, tossing the bridle reins to
+Stacy, while he ran over to the dying camp-fire, whose embers he
+kicked apart, stamping them out one by one. "No use leaving a trail
+like that for any prowling redskin."
+
+They were quickly under way after that, Juan leading the way without
+the least hesitancy. He and the burro worked together like a piece of
+automatic machinery.
+
+"He might better walk and lead the burro," said Stacy, who had been
+observing their peculiar method of locomotion. "Should think it would
+be easier."
+
+The moon was dropping slowly westward, and the party was using it for
+a guide, keeping the silver ball sharply to their right. Juan on the
+other hand had hitched his lazy chariot to a star.
+
+By this star he was laying his course to the southward. The Pony Rider
+Boys enjoyed their moonlight trip immensely; and a gentle breeze from
+the desert drifting over them relieved the scorching heat of the late
+afternoon and early evening.
+
+"Guess the Indians are not going to bother us," said Walter, riding up
+to Tad just before daylight.
+
+"Probably not. They will be in too much trouble with the Government,
+after last night's performances, to give much thought to chasing us.
+And besides, I don't see why they should wish to do so. Had they been
+very anxious to be revenged on us, most likely they would not have
+allowed us to get away as they did."
+
+"Was it very terrible, Tad?" asked Walter Perkins.
+
+"What, the dance, or what happened afterwards?" laughed the lad.
+
+"Both?"
+
+"Well, I'm free to confess that neither was exactly pleasant. When
+they caught Chunky I thought it was all up with us. Hello. There's Mr.
+Daylight."
+
+Glancing to the left the boys saw the sky turning to gray. A buzzard
+screamed overhead, laying its course for the mountains where it was
+journeying in search of food.
+
+"What's that?" demanded Stacy, awakening from a doze in his saddle.
+
+"Friend of yours with an appetite," grinned Ned.
+
+"I thought it sounded like breakfast call," muttered Stacy, relapsing
+into sleep again, his head drooping forward until, a few minutes
+later, he was lying over the saddle pommel with arms thrown loosely
+about the pony's neck
+
+Ned, observing the lad's position, suddenly conceived a mischievous
+plan. Unnoticed by the others, he permitted his own pony to fall back
+until he was a short distance behind Stacy. The others were a little
+way ahead.
+
+Ned rode slowly alongside his companion, as he passed, bringing the
+rowel of his spur sharply against the withers of Chunky's mount.
+
+The effect was instantaneous.
+
+The fat boy's mount, itself half asleep, suddenly humped its back, and
+with bunching feet leaped clear of the ground.
+
+"Hello, what's the matter back there?" called Ned, who by this time
+was a full rod in advance of his companion.
+
+Stacy did not answer. He was at that moment turning an undignified
+somersault in the air, his pony standing meekly, awaiting the next act
+in the little drama.
+
+The fat boy landed on the plain in a heap.
+
+"Are you hurt, Chunky?" cried Tad anxiously, slipping from his saddle
+and running to his companion.
+
+"I-- I dunno, I-- I fell off, didn't I?"
+
+"You're off, at least," grinned Ned. "What was the matter?"
+
+"I-- I dunno; do you?"
+
+"How should I know? If you will go to sleep an a bucking broncho, you
+must expect things to happen."
+
+Stacy, by this time, had scrambled to his feet; after which, he began
+a careful inventory of himself to make sure that he was all there. He
+grinned sheepishly.
+
+Satisfying himself on this point, Stacy shrugged his shoulders and
+walked over to his pony with a suggestion of a limp.
+
+"Now that we have halted we might as well make camp for a few hours,
+get breakfast and take a nap," suggested the Professor.
+
+The boys welcomed this proposition gratefully, for they were beginning
+to feel the effects of their long night ride, added to which, two of
+them had had a series of trying experiences before starting out.
+
+In the meantime, Stacy Brown had been examining his pony with more
+than usual care.
+
+Tad observed his action, and wondered at it. A moment later, the fat
+boy having moved away; Tad thought he would take a look at the animal.
+He was curious to know what Stacy had in mind.
+
+"So that's it, is it?" muttered Tad.
+
+He found the mark of a spur on the pony's withers. While it had not
+punctured the skin, the spur had raked the coat, showing that the
+rowel had been applied with considerable force.
+
+Tad, with a covert glance about, saw Ned Rector watching him.
+
+"You're the guilty one, eh?" he demanded, walking up to Ned.
+
+"S-h-h-h," cautioned Ned. "He'll be redheaded if he knows I am to
+blame for his coming a cropper."
+
+"Chunky's not so slow as you might think. But that wasn't a nice thing
+to do. It's all right to play tricks, but I hope you won't be so cruel
+as to use a spur on a dumb animal, the way you did, even if he is an
+ill-tempered broncho. You might have broken Chunky's neck, too."
+
+Ned's face flushed.
+
+"It was a mean trick, I'll admit. Didn't strike me so at the time.
+Shall I ask Chunky's pardon?"
+
+"Do as you think best. I should, were I in your place."
+
+"Then, I will after breakfast."
+
+Ned got busy at once, assisting to cook the morning meal, while Juan
+led the ponies out to a patch of grass and staked them down. While the
+Pony Rider cook was thus engaged, he felt a tug at his coat sleeve.
+
+Turning sharply, Ned found Stacy at his side. Stacy's face was flushed
+and his eyes were snapping.
+
+"What is it, Chunky?"
+
+"Come over here, I want to talk with you."
+
+They stepped off a few paces out of hearing of the others, Tad smiling
+to himself as he observed Stacy's act.
+
+"Well, what's the matter, Chunky?"
+
+"I can lick you, Ned Rector!"
+
+"Wha-- what?"
+
+"Said I could lick you. Didn't say I was going to, understand. Just
+said I could--"
+
+"Like to see you try it."
+
+"All right; it's a go."
+
+Ere Ned could recover from his surprise, Stacy Brown had launched
+himself upon his companion. One of Stacy's arms went about Ned's neck,
+one foot kicked a leg from under Ned, and the two lads went down in
+the dust together.
+
+It had happened in a twinkling.
+
+"Here, here! What's going on over there?" shouted the Professor,
+starting on a run, while the other lads were laughing.
+
+Chunky was sitting on the chest of his fallen adversary, Ned
+struggling desperately to throw the lad off.
+
+"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" crowed Chunky, in imitation of a rooster,
+flapping his hands on his thighs, in great good humor with himself.
+
+Professor Zepplin grabbed him by the collar, jerking Stacy Brown from
+the fallen Pony Rider Boy.
+
+Ned scrambled to his feet, and, with a sheepish grin on his face,
+proceeded to brush the dust from his clothes.
+
+"Downed you, did he?" questioned Tad.
+
+"It wasn't fair. I didn't know he was going to try."
+
+"Neither did the Russians when the Japs sailed into them at Port
+Arthur," laughed Walter. "And they got what was coming to them."
+
+"So did I. Chunky, I deserve more than you gave me. If you want to,
+beat me up some more."
+
+"Now, isn't that sweet of him?" chortled Stacy. "I fell off my pony,
+then I fell on you, and we'll call it quits, eh, Ned?"
+
+Ned put out a hand, which Stacy grasped with mock enthusiasm.
+
+"We sure will."
+
+"I'd like to know what this is all about?" questioned Walter.
+"Something's been going on."
+
+"I made his pony throw him over," admitted Ned.
+
+Stacy nodded with emphasis.
+
+"He found it out and jumped on me."
+
+"I'll turn you both over my knee if you try to repeat these
+performances," warned the Professor.
+
+Linking arms, Stacy and Ned started for the breakfast table, humming,
+
+"For he's a jolly good fellow,"
+
+and a moment later all four of the lads were standing about the
+breakfast table, singing the chorus at the top of their voices.
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+
+ ASLEEP ON THE SLEEPY GRASS
+
+The slanting rays of the sun got into the eyes of the Pony Rider Boys.
+Four arms were thrown over as many pairs of eyes to shut out the
+blinding light.
+
+"Ho-ho-hum!" yawned Chunky.
+
+Cocking an impish eye at his companions, he observed that each had
+fallen into a deep sleep again.
+
+The fat boy cautiously gathered up a handful of dry sand and hurled it
+into the air. A shower of it sprinkled over them, into their eyes and
+half-opened mouths.
+
+Three pairs of eyes were opened, then closed again.
+
+Encouraged by his success, Stacy chuckled softly to himself, then
+dumped another handful of sand over his companions.
+
+But he was not prepared for what followed.
+
+Three muscular boys hurled themselves upon him. Instantly the peaceful
+scene was changed into a pandemonium of yells. Down came the tent
+poles, the canvas rising and falling as if imbued with sudden life.
+
+Professor Zepplin, startled by the racket, roused himself and sprang
+from his own tent. Observing the erratic actions of the tent in which
+the boys had been sleeping, he instantly concluded that something
+serious had happened.
+
+"Boys! boys!" he cried, running to the spot, frantically hauling away
+the canvas. "What has happened? What has happened?"
+
+They were too busy to answer him. When finally he had uncovered what
+lay below, he found his charges literally tied up in a knot, rolling
+and tumbling, with Stacy Brown lying flat on his back, each of his
+three companions vigorously rubbing handfuls of sand over his face,
+down his neck and in the hair of his head.
+
+"I think I'll take a hand in this myself," smiled the Professor. He
+ran to his tent, returning quickly. In his hands he carried two pails
+of water.
+
+Unluckily for the boys, they had failed to observe what he was doing.
+Nor did they understand that they were in danger until the contents of
+the two pails had been dashed over them.
+
+There were yells in earnest this time. The water turned the dirt into
+mud at once, and their faces were "sights." Stacy's face had been
+protected, in a measure, by the other boys who were bending over him
+rubbing in the sand.
+
+The unexpected bath put a sudden end to their sport, and they
+staggered out shouting for vengeance. They did not even know who had
+been the cause of their undoing.
+
+The Professor, as he walked away smiling, had handed the pails to the
+grinning Juan with instructions to refill them.
+
+The unfortunate Juan, bearing the pails away, was the first person to
+catch the eyes of the lads, as they rubbed the sticky mud out of them.
+
+With a howl they projected themselves upon him. Juan's grin changed
+instantly to an expression of great concern. He went down under their
+charge, with four boys, instead of three, on top of him.
+
+"Duck him!" shouted some one.
+
+"Yes! Douse him in the spring!" chorused the boys.
+
+Juan cried out for the Professor, but his appeals were in vain.
+
+Shouting in high glee the lads bore him to the spring from which they
+got their water. They plumped him in, not any too gently, again and
+again.
+
+"Now roll him in the sand," suggested Ned.
+
+They did so.
+
+The wet clothing and body made the sand stick to him until the lazy
+Mexican was scarcely recognizable.
+
+At this point Professor Zepplin took a hand. He came bounding to the
+scene and began throwing the boys roughly from their unhappy victim.
+Perhaps be was not greatly disturbed over the shaking up the guide had
+sustained, but of course he confided nothing of this to the boys.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves-- for four of you to pitch on
+to one weak Mexican! I'm surprised, young gentlemen."
+
+"But-- but-- he ducked us," protested Ned.
+
+"He did nothing of the sort."
+
+"What-- didn't duck us? Guess I know water when I feel it," objected
+Walter.
+
+"You were ducked, all right, but it is I, not Juan, who am responsible
+for that."
+
+"You?" questioned the lads all at once.
+
+The Professor nodded, a broad grin on his face.
+
+"But he had the pails."
+
+"I gave them to him, after pouring the water over you. That's what is
+known as circumstantial evidence, young gentlemen. Let it be a lesson
+to you to be careful how you convict anyone on that kind of evidence."
+
+"Fellows," glowed Chunky, "we've made a mistake. Let's make it right
+by ducking the Professor."
+
+The boys looked over Professor Zepplin critically.
+
+"I guess we'd better defer that job till we grow some more," they
+decided, with a laugh.
+
+The next fifteen minutes were fully occupied in cleaning up and
+putting on their clothes. They were all thoroughly awake now, with
+cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling after their violent exercise. The
+guide had rather sullenly washed off the wet dust that clung to his
+face and hands.
+
+"Never mind the clothes, Juan," advised Ned. "It'll brush off as soon
+as it gets dry. We'll take up a contribution to buy you a clothes
+brush. Ever see one?"
+
+Juan grinned.
+
+"You promise not to gamble the money away if we give it to you?"
+
+"Si."
+
+"Shell out, fellows. Ten cents apiece. That ought to salve his injured
+feelings."
+
+Ned passed the hat, all contributing.
+
+"That makes forty cents. Here, Professor, you haven't put in your ten
+yet. It'll take just fifty cents to paste up Juan's injuries."
+
+"That reminds me of a fellow I heard about once," announced Stacy.
+
+"Are you going to tell a story?" questioned Ned.
+
+"If you will keep still long enough," replied Stacy.
+
+"Then me for the bunch grass. It's like going to a funeral to hear
+Chunky try to tell a story."
+
+"Let him tell it," shouted the lads.
+
+"Go on, Chunky. Never mind Ned. He'll laugh when he gets back to
+Chillicothe," jibed Walter.
+
+"I heard of a fellow once--"
+
+"Yes; you told us that before," jeered Ned.
+
+"Not the one we ducked in the spring, was it?" grinned Tad.
+
+"Who's telling this story?" demanded Stacy belligerently.
+
+"You are, I guess. I won't interrupt again."
+
+"Well, did I say this fellow was a boy?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, he was-- he's grown up now. He rushed into a drug store--"
+
+"Was anything chasing him?" asked Ned innocently.
+
+Stacy gave no heed to the interruption.
+
+"And he said to the man in the store, 'Please, sir, some liniment and
+some cement?'"
+
+"'What?' asked the clerk all in a muddle. You see, he'd never had a
+prescription like that to fill before. It made him tired, 'cause he
+thought the kid was making fun of him."
+
+"'What-- what's the trouble? What do you want liniment and cement
+for?'
+
+"'Cause,' said the boy to the pill man, ''cause mom hit pop on the
+head with a plate.'"
+
+For a moment there was silence, then the boys roared. But Ned never
+smiled.
+
+"Laugh, laugh! Why don't you laugh?" urged Walter.
+
+"Laugh? Huh! I laughed myself almost sick over that a long time ago.
+Read it in an almanac when I was in short trousers."
+
+"The ponies! The ponies!" cried Juan, rushing up to them, waving his
+arms, then running his fingers through his long black hair until it
+stood up like the quills of a porcupine.
+
+"What!" queried the Pony Rider Boys in sudden alarm. "What's the
+matter with the ponies?"
+
+Juan pointed to the place where the stock had been tethered after they
+arrived at the camp.
+
+There was not an animal to be seen anywhere on the plain.
+
+"Gone!" gasped the lads, with sinking hearts.
+
+"No, no, no. There!" stammered the guide.
+
+With one accord the boys ran at top speed to the spot indicated by
+Juan.
+
+There, stretched out in the long grass lay bronchos and burros.
+
+"They're dead, the ponies are dead, every one of them!" cried the lads
+aghast.
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+
+ THE MIDNIGHT ALARM
+
+"What's this, what's this?" demanded the Professor, striding up.
+
+"Look! Look! The ponies are dead!" exclaimed Ned excitedly.
+
+"What do you suppose could have happened to them?" stammered Walter.
+
+"Is it possible? What's the meaning of this, guide?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his white teeth.
+
+In the meantime Tad had hurried to his own pony, and was down on his
+knees examining it. Placing his hands on the animal's side, he
+remained in that position for an instant, then sprang up.
+
+"They're not dead, fellows! They're alive!"
+
+"Asleep," grumbled Ned disgustedly.
+
+"But there's something the matter with them. Something has happened to
+the stock," added Tad.
+
+"Only a false alarm," nodded Stacy.
+
+"Think so? Try to wake your pony up," advised Tad.
+
+Stacy had already hurried to his own broncho, and now began tugging at
+the bridle rein, with sundry pokes in the animal's ribs.
+
+"I can't. He's in a trance," wailed Stacy, considerably startled.
+
+That expression came nearer to describing the condition of the stock
+than any other words could have done.
+
+"Guide, what do you know about this?" questioned the Professor. "Has
+some one been tampering with our animals?"
+
+Juan shrugged his shoulders with an air of indifference.
+
+"No bother bronchs."
+
+"Then will you please tell us what is the matter with them?"
+
+"Sleepy grass!"
+
+"Sleepy grass?" chorused the lads.
+
+"Of course they're asleep all right," added Ned. "But whoever heard of
+sleepy grass?"
+
+"He means they're sleeping on the grass," Stacy informed them.
+
+"Ah! I begin to understand," nodded the Professor. "I think I know
+what the trouble is now. The guide is no doubt right."
+
+The boys gathered around him, all curiosity.
+
+"Tell us about it, Professor. We are very much mystified?" said the
+Pony Riders.
+
+"A long time ago I remember to have read, somewhere, of a certain
+grass in this region that possessed peculiar narcotic properties--"
+
+"What's narcotic?" interrupted Stacy.
+
+"Something that makes you go to sleep when you can't," explained Tad
+Butler, rather ambiguously.
+
+"When eaten by horses or cattle it is said to put them into deep
+sleep. The Rockefeller Institute, I believe, is already making an
+analytical test of the grass."
+
+"Please talk so I can understand it," begged Stacy.
+
+"Yes; those words make my head ache," scowled Ned. "Even the guide is
+making up faces in his effort to understand."
+
+"He does understand. He understands only too well. For many years this
+grass has been known. Cows turned out for the day would fail to return
+at night--"
+
+"To be milked," interjected Stacy.
+
+"And an investigation would disclose them sleeping in some region,
+where the sleepy grass grew
+
+And the fat boy hummed:
+
+"Down where the sleepy grass is growing."
+
+"Travelers who have tied out their horses in patches of the grass for
+the night have been unable to continue their journey until the animals
+recovered from their strange sleep. Thus the properties of the grass
+became known."
+
+"Indians use 'em to tame bad bronchos," the guide informed them.
+
+"Just so."
+
+"But, when will they wake up?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Mebby sun-up to-morrow," answered Juan, glancing up at the sky.
+
+"What, sleep twenty-four hours?" demanded Ned.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Preposterous."
+
+"Then, then, we've got to remain here all the rest of the afternoon
+and night-- is that it?" demanded Tad.
+
+"It looks that way."
+
+"And you knew about this stuff, Juan?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Si."
+
+"Well, you're a nice sort of a guide, I must say."
+
+"You ought to be put off the reservation," threatened Stacy, shaking a
+menacing fist in front of the white teeth.
+
+In the meantime, Tad had gone over to the animals again, and, taking
+them in turn, sought to stir them up. He found he could not do so. The
+ponies' heads would drop to the ground after he had lifted and let go
+of them, just as if the animals were dead.
+
+"Gives you a creepy feeling, doesn't it?" shivered Walter.
+
+"I should say it does," answered Ned.
+
+"Well, what is it, Chunky?" asked Tad, who observed that Stacy had
+something on his mind that he was trying to formulate into words.
+
+"I've got an idea, fellows," he exploded.
+
+"Hold on to it, then. You may never get another," jeered Ned.
+
+"What is it, Master Stacy?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Then-- then-- then-- that's what Juan and his burro have been eating
+all the time. I knew there was something the matter with them."
+
+A loud laugh greeted the fat boy's suggestion.
+
+"Guess he's about right, at that," grinned Tad.
+
+"A brilliant thought," agreed the Professor. "Boys, I must have some
+of that grass. I shall make some experiments with it."
+
+"Experiment on Chunky," they shouted.
+
+"No; he sleeps quite well enough as it is," smiled the Professor.
+
+"I want some of it too-- no, not to eat," corrected the fat boy. "I'll
+feed it to my aunt's cat when I get back; then he won't be running
+away from home every night."
+
+"Better unload the rest of the equipment, boys," advised the
+Professor. "If we must remain here all night we might as well make the
+best of it."
+
+Without their ponies, the lads spent rather a restless afternoon. They
+had not fully realized before how much a part of them their horses had
+become until they were suddenly deprived of them.
+
+In the meantime, the bronchos slept on undisturbed.
+
+"I've got another idea," shouted Stacy.
+
+"Keep it to yourself," growled Ned. "Your ideas, like your jokes,
+graduated a long time ago."
+
+"Is there sleepy grass in the Catskill Mountains!" persisted Stacy.
+
+"We don't know, and we don't--"
+
+"I know there is, and that's what put Rip Van Winkle to sleep for
+twenty years," shouted the fat boy in high glee. "See, I know more
+than--"
+
+"Yes; you're the original boy wonder. We'll take that for granted,"
+nodded Ned Rector.
+
+Tad, however, was not inclined to look upon their enforced delay with
+anything like amusement. To him it had its serious side. He had not
+forgotten that they had been fleeing from the Indians. When he got an
+opportunity to do so, without his companions overhearing, he
+approached the Professor.
+
+"I think it would be a good plan for us to have a guard over our camp
+to-night."
+
+"On account of?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Very well; I think myself that it would be a prudent move. Have Juan
+sit up, then."
+
+"No, he's a sleepy bead. Suppose we boys take turns?"
+
+"Very well; arrange it to suit yourselves. I presume we ought to do
+something of the sort every night. It might have saved us some trouble
+on our Ozark journey had we been that prudent. Arrange it to suit you.
+I'll take my turn
+
+"No; we can do it, Professor. You go to bed as usual. We'll draw lots
+to see who takes the different watches. With the four of us we'll have
+to take only two hours apiece. That won't be bad at all."
+
+The other boys, after the plan had been explained to them, entered
+into it enthusiastically. Walter was to take the first trick, Ned the
+next, Chunky the third and Tad the fourth.
+
+And they were to take their guns out with them. The Professor agreed
+to this, now that they had become more familiar with firearms. As a
+matter of fact, all the boys had developed into excellent marksmen,
+though Tad was recognized as the best shot of the party.
+
+Professor Zepplin, during the afternoon, gave each of them a lesson in
+revolver shooting, using for the purpose, his heavy army revolver.
+They did pretty well with this weapon, but, of course, were not nearly
+as expert with it as with the rifle.
+
+Evening came and the stock was still sleeping soundly. There was
+nothing the boys could do but let them sleep, though the fact of all
+the ponies and burros lying about as if dead began to make the Pony
+Riders nervous. Night came, and with it semi-darkness, the moon being
+overcast with a veil of fleecy white clouds, which cast a grayish film
+over the landscape. The lads joked each other about having the
+"creeps," but none would admit the charge.
+
+Walter, with rifle slung over his right shoulder, went out on the
+first watch with instructions to go at least two hundred yards from
+camp and keep walking around the camp in a circle. This would protect
+them from surprises on all sides. Ned decided not to retire until he
+had taken his guard trick, in view of the fact that he was to go on at
+eleven o'clock. But Stacy, proposing to get all the sleep he was
+entitled to, turned in early. The rest did not disturb him. The boys
+were unusually quiet that evening, perhaps feeling that the
+responsibility of the safety of the camp rested wholly upon their
+youthful shoulders.
+
+Ned came in at one o'clock, after having taken his turn, unslung his
+rifle, drew the cartridges then put them back in the magazine again.
+
+"I might need them before morning," he told himself.
+
+Chunky being sound asleep, Ned grabbed him by a foot giving him a
+violent pull.
+
+"Wat'cher want? Get out!" growled the fat boy sleepily.
+
+"Get up and take your watch!" commanded Ned.
+
+"Who's afraid of Indians?" mumbled Stacy.
+
+This time Ned took the lad by the collar, jerked him to his feet and
+shook him until Stacy yelled "Ouch!" so loudly as to awaken the entire
+camp.
+
+It took some time, however, to get Stacy himself awake sufficiently to
+make him understand that he had a duty to perform. Finally, however,
+he shouldered his rifle, after surreptitiously helping himself to a
+sandwich from the cook tent. Then be marched off, munching the bread
+and meat.
+
+"See here," snapped Ned, running after him. "You're not measuring off
+your distance. Come back and pace it off."
+
+"How many?"
+
+"Two hundred yards. Stretch your fat legs as far as they'll go, then
+you'll have a yard, more or less."
+
+Stacy started all over again, forgot the count, came back, then tried
+it again. Even at that he was not sure whether he had gone one hundred
+yards or five.
+
+He was awake enough, now, to observe his surroundings. The cool
+breezes of the night were tossing the leaves of the cottonwoods near
+the water course to the west of them, while here and there in the
+foliage might be heard the exultant notes of a mocking bird.
+
+Stacy shivered.
+
+"Guess it's going to freeze to-night," he decided, beginning his
+steady tramp about the camp of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+Muttering to himself, as was his habit when alone, Stacy kept on until
+finding himself opposite the ponies, he decided to go over and look at
+them. All were asleep. Not one had awakened since going down under the
+powerful influence of the "sleepy grass."
+
+"I'd like to eat some of that stuff myself, right now," Chunky decided
+out loud. "I'd have a good excuse for going to sleep then. Now I can't
+without getting jumped on by the fellows. Wonder what time it is--
+only half-past one. Must be something the matter with my watch. I know
+I've been out more'n two hours."
+
+This trip he circled out further from the camp, growing a little more
+confident because nothing had happened to disturb him.
+
+In the meantime the camp slept in peace-- that is, the lads did until
+nearly time for the change of guard. Then the whole party was aroused
+with the sudden, startling conviction that something serious had
+happened.
+
+All at once the crack of a rifle sounded on the still night air. It
+was followed by another shot, and another, until four distinct reports
+had rolled across the plains.
+
+In wild disorder the Pony Rider Boys tumbled from their cots, and,
+grasping their weapons, leaped from the tents.
+
+"What's the row?" inquired the Professor.
+
+"Wow! Wow! Wow! Yeow!" shrieked a shrill voice to the northward.
+
+"It's Chunky. He's giving the alarm! We're attacked!" cried the lads.
+
+Bang ! Bang!
+
+They saw the flash of the fat boy's weapon before the report reached
+their ears.
+
+A moment later the other boys caught sight of Stacy dashing into camp,
+hatless, waving his rifle and yelling as if bereft of his senses.
+
+"What is it? What is it?" cried the boys with one voice.
+
+"Indians! Indians! The prairie's full of them!"
+
+  CHAPTER X
+
+ MEETING THE ATTACK
+
+Instantly the camp was thrown into confusion. The lads ran here and
+there, not knowing what to do.
+
+"Get behind the ponies! That's the only cover we can find here. Run
+for it!"
+
+And run they did, the Professor outdistancing all the rest in his
+attempt to secrete himself where the enemy's weapons would not be
+likely to reach him.
+
+In a moment more, the camp of the Pony Rider Boys was deserted, and
+behind each sleeping pony lay a boy, with rifle barrel poked over the
+animal's back, ready to shoot at the first sign of the redskins.
+Stacy, in his excitement, had forgotten that not a cartridge was left
+in his magazine, and the others were too fully occupied to remember to
+tell him.
+
+For all of half an hour did the party lie protected. The boys began to
+grow restive. Tad's suspicions were being slowly aroused.
+
+"I'm going to do a little scouting," he told them, slipping from
+behind the pony and skulking along back of the tents. The moon was
+shining brightly now. He could see a long distance. Not a human being
+was in sight.
+
+"I thought so," he muttered, retracing his steps. "See here, Stacy
+Brown, what did you see-- what did you shoot at?" he demanded sternly.
+
+"I-- I shot the chute-- I-- I mean I chuted the shot-- I mean--"
+
+"Say, what do you mean?"
+
+"I-- I mean-- say, leggo my neck, will you?" roared Chunky.
+
+"Fellows, he doesn't know what he means."
+
+"Guess he's been feeding on crazy grass out on the prairie," was Ned's
+conclusion.
+
+"There isn't an Indian anywhere around here. I know it. They would
+have been after us long before this, if there had been."
+
+One by one the boys came from their hiding places, the lazy Mexican
+last. Disapproving eyes were turned on Stacy.
+
+"Chunky, you come along and show us where you were when you shot-- did
+you shoot at an Indian?" asked Tad.
+
+"Yes, and I-- I-- I shot him."
+
+"Show us. We're all from Chillicothe," demanded Ned.
+
+Stacy, with a show of importance, led the way, keeping a wary eye out
+for the enemy. It was noticed, however, that each of the lads held his
+rifle ready for business in case there should be an enemy about.
+
+"There! I was standing right over there-- I guess."
+
+"You guess! Don't you know?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Yes; that's the place."
+
+The lad walked over to the identical spot from which he had first
+fired his rifle.
+
+"He was over there and I shot at him, so," said Stacy, leveling the
+weapon. "Ye-ow! There he is, now!" shrieked the boy.
+
+Every weapon flashed up to a level with the eyes.
+
+"There is something over there on the ground," decided the Professor.
+
+"Put down your guns so you don't shoot me," said Tad. "I'm going to
+find out what it is."
+
+Keeping his own weapon held at "ready," the lad walked boldly over to
+where a heap of some sort lay on the plain. It surely had not been
+there during the afternoon-- Tad knew that.
+
+He reached it, stooped, peered, then uttered a yell.
+
+"What is it" they cried, hurrying up.
+
+"You've done it now, Chunky Brown. You certainly have gone and done
+it."
+
+"What-- what is it?" cried the others in alarm.
+
+"You've shot the lazy Mexican's burro. That's your Indian, Stacy
+Brown."
+
+Juan, who had followed them out on the plain, uttered a wail and threw
+himself upon the body of his prostrate burro. The animal, it seemed,
+had recovered consciousness during the night, and in a half-dazed
+condition had wandered out on the plain. Stacy, while crouching down
+on the ground, had seen the head and long ears of the burro. He
+thought the ears were part of the head dress of a savage and let fly a
+volley of bullets at it.
+
+"He-- he isn't dead," shouted the fat boy. "See, I just pinked him in
+the ears."
+
+And, surely enough, an examination revealed a hole through each ear.
+The holes were so close to the animal's head that it was reasonable to
+suppose the shot had stunned him, being already in a weakened
+condition from the sleepy grass.
+
+The boys set to work to rouse the burro, which they succeeded in doing
+in a short time. Juan, with arm around the lazy beast's neck, led it
+back to camp, petting and soothing it with a chattering that they
+could not understand.
+
+There was no more sleep in camp that night, though the boys turned in
+at the Professor's suggestion. Every little while, laughter would
+sound in one of the tents, as the others fell to discussing Stacy's
+Indian attack.
+
+The next morning they were overjoyed to find that the ponies had
+awakened and were trying to get up.
+
+"Lead them out of that grass, fellows," shouted Tad, the moment he saw
+the ponies were coming around. "We don't want them to make another
+meal of that stuff"
+
+"Nor take another of Chunky's Rip Van Winkle sleeps," added Ned.
+
+Never having had a like experience, none of the lads knew what to do
+with their mounts after getting them sufficiently awake to lead them
+to a place of safety. They appealed to Juan for advice, but the lazy
+Mexican appeared to know even less than they.
+
+Tad, after studying the question a few moments, decided to give them
+water, though sparingly. This they appeared to relish and braced up
+quite a little. But the boy would not allow them to graze until nearly
+noon, when each one took his pony out, making sure that there was none
+of the sleepy grass around. The animals were then permitted to graze.
+
+About the middle of the afternoon Tad decided that all were fit to
+continue the journey, and that it would be safe to travel until
+sunset. Everyone was glad to get away from the spot where they had had
+such unpleasant experiences, and the boys set off, moving slowly, the
+stock not yet being in the best of condition.
+
+Late in the afternoon, when they had about decided to make camp, one
+of the boys espied an object, something like a quarter of a mile away,
+that looked like the roof of a house.
+
+Ned said it couldn't be that, as it appeared to be resting on the
+ground. They asked Juan if he knew what it was, and for a wonder he
+did. He said it was a dug-out-- a place where a man lived.
+
+"Is he a hermit?" asked Stacy apprehensively, at which there was a
+laugh. Stacy had not forgotten his experiences in the cave of the
+hermit of the Nevada Desert.
+
+For the next hour, the lads were too busy, pitching tents and
+unloading the pack animals, to give further thought to the dug-out or
+its occupant; but when, after they had prepared their evening meal,
+they saw some one approaching on horseback, they were instantly
+curious again.
+
+The newcomer proved to be the owner of the dug-out. He was a tall,
+square-jawed man, with a short, cropped iron-gray beard and small
+blue, twinkling eyes.
+
+"Will you join us and have some supper?" asked Tad politely, walking
+out to greet the stranger.
+
+"Thank you; I will, young man," smiled the stranger.
+
+Tad introduced himself and companions.
+
+"You probably have heard my name before, young men. It is Kris
+Kringle; I'm living out here for my health and doing a little ranching
+on the side."
+
+Stacy looked his amazement.
+
+"Is-- is he Santa Claus?" he whispered, tugging at Tad's coat sleeve.
+
+"No, young man. I am not related to the gentleman you refer to,"
+grinned Mr. Kringle.
+
+There was a general laugh at Stacy's expense.
+
+After supper, the visitor invited all hands to ride over to his
+dug-out and spend the evening with him. The boys accepted gladly,
+never having seen the inside of a dug-out, and not knowing what one
+looked like. Professor Zepplin had taken a sudden liking to the man
+with the Christmas name, and soon the two were engaged in earnest
+conversation.
+
+The distance being so short, Tad decided that they had better walk,
+leaving the ponies in charge of Juan so they might get a full night's
+rest. Then all hands set out for the dug-out.
+
+A short flight of steps led down into the place, the roof of which was
+raised just far enough above the ground to permit of two narrow
+windows on each side and at the rear end.
+
+The room in which they found themselves, proved to be a combination
+kitchen and dining room. Its neatness and orderliness impressed them
+at once.
+
+"And here," said Kris Kringle, "is what I call my den," throwing open
+a door leading into a rear room and lighting a hanging oil lamp.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys uttered an exclamation of surprised delight.
+
+On a hardwood floor lay a profusion of brightly colored Navajo rugs,
+the walls being hung with others of exquisite workmanship and
+coloring, interspersed with weapons and trophies of the chase, while
+in other parts of the room were rare specimens of pottery from ancient
+adobe houses of the Pueblos.
+
+At the far end of the room was a great fire-place. Book cases,
+home-made, stood about the room, full of books. The Professor
+realized, at once, that they were in the home of a student and a
+collector.
+
+"This is indeed an oasis in the desert," he glowed. "I shall be loath
+to leave here."
+
+"Then don't," smiled Mr. Kringle. "I'm sure I am glad enough to have
+company. Seldom ever see anyone here, except now and then a roving
+band of Indians."
+
+"Indians!" exclaimed Tad. "Do you have any trouble with them?"
+
+"Well, they know better than to bother with me much. We have had an
+occasional argument," said their host, his jaws setting almost
+stubbornly for the instant. "Most of the tribes in the state are
+peaceful, though the Apaches are as bad as ever. They behave
+themselves because they have to, not because they wish to do so."
+
+"I saw their fire dance the other night," began Tad.
+
+"What?" demanded Mr. Kringle.
+
+"Fire dance."
+
+"Tell me about it?"
+
+Tad did so, the host listening with grave face until the recital was
+ended.
+
+He shook his head disapprovingly.
+
+"And this-- this Indian that you knocked down-- was he an Apache?"
+
+"I don't know. I think so, though. He had on a peculiar head dress
+
+"That was one of them," interrupted Mr. Kringle, with emphasis. "And
+I'll wager you haven't heard the last of him yet. That's an insult
+which the Apache brave will harbor under his copper skin forever.
+He'll wait for years, but he'll get even if he can."
+
+The faces of the Pony Rider Boys were grave.
+
+"Have you a reliable guide?"
+
+"Far from it," answered the Professor. "If I knew where I could get
+another, I'd pack him off without ceremony.
+
+Kris Kringle was silent for a moment.
+
+"I need a little change of scene," he smiled. "How would you like to
+have me take the trail with you for a week or so?"
+
+"Would you?" glowed the Professor, half rising from his chair.
+
+"I think I might."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried the Pony Riders enthusiastically. "That will be fine."
+
+"Of course, you understand that I expect no pay. I am going because I
+happen to take a notion to do so. Perhaps I'll be able to serve you at
+the same time."
+
+The Professor grasped Mr. Kringle by the hand impulsively.
+
+"I'll send that lazy Juan on his way this very night--"
+
+"Let me do it," interposed Stacy, with flushing face. "I'll do it
+right, Professor. But I'll put on my pair of heavy boots first, so
+it'll hurt him more."
+
+The boys shouted with laughter, while the new guide's eyes twinkled
+merrily.
+
+"I think, perhaps, the young man might do it even more effectively
+than you or I," he said. "Have you weapons, Professor?"
+
+"Rifles."
+
+"That's good. We may need them."
+
+"Then you think?"
+
+"One can never tell."
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+
+ RIDING WITH KRIS KRINGLE
+
+A slender ribbon of dust unrolling across the plain far to the
+northward marked the receding trail of Juan and his lazy burro. They
+had given him a week's extra pay and sent him on his way.
+
+The burro was making for home, aided by the busy feet of its master,
+while Stacy Brown, shading his eyes with one hand, was watching the
+progress of the guide, whom he had just sent adrift.
+
+"Well, he's gone," grinned Stacy, turning to his companions, who were
+busy striking camp.
+
+"And a good riddance," nodded Tad.
+
+"He'll probably join the Indians and tell them where we are,"
+suggested Walter.
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," replied Tad. "Still, if they wish to find
+us they know how without Juan's telling them."
+
+"How?"
+
+"They can follow a trail with their eyes shut," said Ned.
+
+"That's right. They do not need to be told," muttered Tad.
+
+Everything being in readiness, the boys started with their outfit for
+the dug-out, where they were to be joined by Kris Kringle. They felt a
+real relief to know that they were to have with them a strong man on
+whom they were sure they could rely to do the right thing under all
+circumstances. Tad, however, believed that Mr. Kringle had decided to
+join them, fearing they would be attacked by the Apaches and come to
+serious harm. Yet he hardly thought the redskins would dare to follow
+them, after the latter had once gotten over the frenzy of their fire
+dance. By that time the Indian agents would have rounded them all up
+on the reservations, where the Indians would be able to do no more
+harm for a while.
+
+After picking up the new guide the start was made. The party had water
+in plenty in the water-bags, so that no effort was made to pick up a
+water hole when they made camp late in the afternoon. The guide had
+brought in his pack a tough old sage hen, at which the lads were
+inclined to jeer when he announced his intention of cooking it for
+their supper.
+
+"You'll change your mind when you taste it, young gentlemen. It
+depends upon the cooking entirely. A sage hen may be a delicious
+morsel, or it may not," answered Mr. Kringle, with a grin.
+
+They were encamped near a succession of low-lying buttes, and to while
+away the time until the supper hour, the boys strolled away singly to
+stretch their legs on the plain after the long day's ride in the hot
+sun.
+
+When they returned an hour or so later, Stacy, they observed, was
+swinging a curious forked stick that he had picked up somewhere a few
+moments ago.
+
+"What you got there?" questioned Ned.
+
+"Don't know. Picked it up on the plain. Such a funny looking thing,
+that I brought it along."
+
+"Let me see it," asked Mr. Kringle.
+
+Stacy handed it to him.
+
+"This," said the guide, turning the stick over in his hand, "is a
+divining rod."
+
+"Divining rod?" demanded Stacy, pressing forward.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Never heard of it. Is it good to eat?"
+
+"Looks to me like a wish bone," interjected Ned. "Do you eat wish
+bones, Chunky?"
+
+"Might, if I were hungry enough."
+
+"A divining rod is used to locate springs. Some users of it have been
+very successful. I couldn't find a lake with it, even if I fell in
+first."
+
+"Indeed," marveled the Professor. "I have heard of the remarkable work
+of divining rods. What Rind of wood is it?"
+
+"This is hazel wood. Oak, elm, ash or privet also are used, but hazel
+is preferred in this country."
+
+"Then-- then we won't have to go dry any more-- I can find water with
+this when I'm dry?" questioned Stacy.
+
+"You might; then again you might not."
+
+"Better take it away from him," suggested Ned. "He might find a
+spring. If he did he'd be sure to fall in and drown."
+
+The stick, which was shaped like the letter Y, was an object of great
+interest to the Pony Rider Boys. One by one they took it out on the
+plain, in an effort to locate some water. The guide instructed them to
+hold the Y with the bottom up, one prong in each hand and to walk
+slowly.
+
+But, try as they would, they were able to get no results.
+
+"The thing's a fraud!" exclaimed Ned disgustedly, throwing the
+divining rod away.
+
+Stacy picked it up.
+
+"I know why it doesn't work," he said.
+
+"Why?" demanded the other boys.
+
+"'Cause-- 'cause there isn't any water to make it work," he replied
+wisely.
+
+The boys groaned.
+
+Shortly after returning to camp, they found the fat boy standing over
+a pail of water holding the stick above it.
+
+He was talking to the stick confidentially, urging it to "do
+something," to the intense amusement of the whole outfit.
+
+"Now, where's your theory?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Why, it doesn't have to work, does it? Don't we know there's water
+here? If we didn't the stick would tell us, maybe. Take my word for
+it, this outfit won't have to go dry after this. Stacy Brown and his
+magic wand will find all the water needed," continued the fat boy
+proudly.
+
+"Your logic is good, at any rate, even if the rod doesn't work at
+command," laughed the Professor.
+
+Supper was a jolly affair, for everyone was in high spirits. The sage
+hen, contrary to general expectation, was found to be delicious.
+Chunky begged for the wish bone and got it. He said he'd use it for a
+divining rod when he wanted to find a little spring.
+
+"Mr. Kringle, I am commissioned by the fellows to ask you a question,"
+announced Tad, after the meal had been in progress for a time.
+
+"Ask it," smiled the guide.
+
+"We thought we'd like to call you Santa Claus, seeing you've brought
+us so much cheer. Then again, it's your name you know. Kris Kringle is
+Santa Claus."
+
+"Oh, well, call me what you please, young men."
+
+From that moment on, Kris Kringle was Santa Claus to the Pony Rider
+Boys.
+
+They had now come to a rolling country, with here and there high
+buttes, followed by large areas of bottom lands which were covered
+with rank growths of bunch grass. Traveling was more difficult than it
+had been, and water more scarce.
+
+It was on the second day out, after they had been skirmishing for
+water in every direction, that the lads heard the familiar yell from
+Chunky.
+
+"There goes the trouble maker," cried Ned. "He's at it again."
+
+The guide bounded up, starting on a run for the spot where Chunky's
+wail had been heard. The others were not far behind.
+
+They saw the red, perspiring face of the fat boy above a clump of
+grass, his yells for help continuing, unabated.
+
+"What is it?" shouted the guide.
+
+"I've got it, Santa Claus! I've got it!"
+
+"Got what?" roared the Professor.
+
+"The stick!-- I mean it's got me. Help! Help!"
+
+Stacy was wrestling about as if engaged in combat with some enemy.
+They could not imagine what had gone wrong-- what had caused his
+sudden cries of alarm.
+
+"It's the divining rod!" called the guide.
+
+"He's found water!" shouted the boys.
+
+"I've got it! I've got it! Come help me hold it. The thing's jerking
+my arms off."
+
+To the amazement of the Pony Rider Boys, the forked stick in the hands
+of the fat boy was performing some strange antics. Breathing hard, he
+would force it up until it was nearly upright, when all at once the
+point of the triangle would suddenly swerve downward, bending the rod
+almost to the breaking point.
+
+"See it? See it?"
+
+"Most remarkable," breathed Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Yes, there can be no doubt about it," nodded the guide.
+
+"He's bluffing," disagreed Ned.
+
+"Doesn't look to me as if he were," returned Tad.
+
+"Take hold with me here, if you don't believe me," cried Stacy. "No,
+not on the stick, take hold of my wrists."
+
+Ned promptly accepted the invitation.
+
+Instantly the tug of the divining rod was felt by the new hands.
+
+Ned let go quickly.
+
+"Ugh! The thing gives me the creeps."
+
+"Let me try it, Master Stacy," said Professor Zepplin.
+
+"I can't let go of it," wailed Chunky.
+
+"Step off a piece," directed the guide.
+
+Stacy did so, whereupon the divining rod immediately ceased its
+peculiar actions.
+
+The Professor took hold of it, but the rod refused to work for him.
+
+"Let Santa Claus try it," suggested Ned.
+
+The guide did so, but with no more success than the Professor had had.
+
+"I told you it wouldn't work for me," Mr. Kringle grinned. "Here,
+Master Tad, you try it."
+
+Tad, with the rod grasped firmly in his hands, walked back and forth
+three times without result. On the fourth attempt, however, the stick
+suddenly bent nearly double.
+
+All were amazed.
+
+"Why were we unable to get results, Mr. Kringle?" questioned the
+Professor.
+
+"According to some French writers as much depends upon the man as on
+the divining rod. Where one succeeds another fails absolutely.
+Supposing the others take a try?"
+
+Walter and Ned did so, but neither could get the rod to move for him.
+
+"I guess Chunky is the champion water-finder," laughed Ned.
+
+"Would it not be a good idea to find out whether or not there is water
+here?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Yes," agreed the guide. "It may be so far down that we cannot reach
+it, however. You know in some parts of this region they are locating
+water with the rod and sinking artesian wells."
+
+"Why-- why didn't we think to bring some down with us?" demanded
+Chunky. "Can't we get any in some of the towns down here?"
+
+"Some what?" questioned the guide.
+
+"Artesian wells."
+
+A roar greeted the fat boy's question.
+
+"Bring down a load of artesian wells!" jeered Ned.
+
+"An artesian well, my boy, is nothing more than a hole in the ground,"
+the guide informed him, much to Chunky's chagrin.
+
+The spot where the divining rod had so suddenly gotten busy was about
+midway of an old water course, covered with a thick growth of bunch
+grass.
+
+"Get some tools, boys," directed the Professor.
+
+Tad ran back to camp, which lay some distance to the east of where
+they were gathered. Searching out a pick and two shovels, he leaped on
+his pony, dashing back to the arroyo.
+
+"That was quickly done," smiled Santa Claus. "Are all of you lads as
+quick on an errand as that?"
+
+"Only Chunky," answered Ned solemnly.
+
+The guide began to dig, in which effort he was joined by Stacy Brown,
+who, with a shovel, caved in about as much dirt as he threw out.
+
+"Here, give me that shovel," commanded Ned. "You'll fill up the bole
+before we get it dug."
+
+Tad, having tethered his pony, took the extra shovel and went to work.
+
+"Guess it's a false alarm," decided Ned, after they were up to their
+shoulders in the hole.
+
+"Don't be too sure. The ground is quite damp here. Try your rod, young
+man."
+
+"Chunky held the divining rod over the excavation, whereupon it drew
+down with even greater force than before.
+
+"Dig," directed the guide.
+
+They did so with a will.
+
+"Here's water!" shouted Kris Kringle.
+
+They crowded about the hole, amazement written on every face.
+
+A fresh, cool stream bubbled up into the hole, causing those in the
+pit to scramble out hastily.
+
+"Some of you boys run back to camp and fetch pails and water-bags,"
+directed the guide.
+
+"I'll go. I've got the pony here," spoke up Tad.
+
+"No; I want you to do something else for me."
+
+"We'll all go," offered Walter. The three lads started on a run,
+Chunky holding his precious divining rod tightly clasped in both
+hands.
+
+"What is it you wish?" questioned Tad.
+
+"I wish you would ride over toward that small butte and cut a load of
+brush. Want to rip-rap the outer edge of this water hole, so the bank
+will not cave in and undo all our work! Have you a hatchet?"
+
+"Yes, in my saddlebags."
+
+"Good. Hurry, please."
+
+Tad leaped into the saddle, and putting spurs to his broncho, tore
+through the high bunch grass, above which only his head was now
+observable. In a short time he was back with the green stuff piled
+high on the saddle in front of him, with a large bundle tied to the
+cantle of the saddle behind.
+
+Unloading this, Butler started back at a gallop for more. When there
+was work to be done, Tad Butler was happy. Activity to him was a tonic
+that spurred him on to ever greater efforts.
+
+This time he found himself obliged to climb higher up the butte in
+order to get branches of available size. These he cut and threw down.
+After having procured what he thought would be all he could carry the
+lad scrambled down, and, dropping on his knees began tying them into
+bundles. The heat was sweltering, and occasionally be paused to wipe
+away the perspiration.
+
+"I smell smoke," sniffed Tad. "I wonder where it comes from?"
+
+The odor grew stronger, but so interested was he in his labor that he
+did not at once understand the significance of his discovery.
+
+"W-h-o-o-e-e!"
+
+It was a long-drawn, warning shout.
+
+"It's a signal!" exclaimed the lad, straightening up. "I wonder what's
+the matter?"
+
+As he looked toward the camp a great wall of flame seemed to leap from
+the ground between him and his companions. There it poised for one
+brief instant, then, with a roar swooped down into the tall bunch
+grass, rushing roaring and crackling toward him.
+
+For an instant he stood unbelieving, then the truth dawned upon him.
+
+"The prairie's on fire!" cried Tad.
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+
+ THE DASH FOR LIFE
+
+The shouts of the Pony Rider Boys and of the guide were swallowed up
+in the roar of the flames."
+
+"They'll be burned alive!" whispered the lad.
+
+Then, all at once he realized that he himself was in dire peril.
+
+"I'll have to go the other way and be quick about it at that," he
+decided, making a dash for the pony, that already was whinnying with
+fear and tugging at its tether.
+
+Tad did not wait to untie the stake rope. With a sweep of his knife he
+severed it and vaulted into the saddle.
+
+Whirling the animal about he headed to the west. To his alarm he
+suddenly discovered that the prairie fire was rapidly encircling him,
+the flames running around the outer edge of the bottoms with express
+train speed, threatening to head him off and envelop him. Had it not
+been for the long grass, which, tangling the feet of the pony, made
+full speed impossible, the race with the flames would have been an
+easy one to win. As it was, Tad knew that the chances were against
+him.
+
+But the dire peril in which he found himself did not daunt the Pony
+Rider Boy. Perhaps his face had grown a shade paler underneath the
+tan, but that was all. His senses were on the alert, his lips met in a
+firm pressure and the hand gripped the bridle rein a little more
+firmly, perhaps, than usual.
+
+Uttering a shrill cry to inform his companions that be was alive to
+his peril, and at the same time to encourage the broncho, Tad dug in
+the rowels of his spurs.
+
+The frightened pony cleared the ground with all four feet, uttering a
+squeal, and launching itself at the rapidly narrowing clear space
+ahead of him; and urged to greater and greater endeavor at every leap
+by the short, sharp "yips" of his rider.
+
+For all the concern that showed in his face, Tad Butler might have
+been running a horse race for a prize rather than fleeing for his
+life.
+
+"If I make it I'm lucky,"-- commented Tad grimly. He found himself
+wondering, at the same time, how the fire had started. He knew that
+the flames first showed themselves midway between where he was at work
+and the place where his companions were engaged at the water hole.
+
+He could not understand it. Fire was necessary to use to start fire,
+and he knew that none of them had been foolish enough even to light a
+match in the dry bunch grass of the prairie.
+
+The flames were reaching mountain high by this time, great clouds of
+smoke rolling in on the breeze and nearly suffocating him.
+
+At times Tad was unable to see the opening ahead of him. When,
+however, the smoke lifted, giving him a momentary view, he saw that
+the gap was rapidly closing.
+
+All at once his attention was drawn from the closing gap.
+
+"Yeow ! Yeow! Yeow! Y-e-o-w!"
+
+A series of shrill, blood curdling yells from out the pall of smoke
+and flame at the rear, bombarded his ears.
+
+At first he thought it was Indians; then the improbability of this
+being the case came to him.
+
+"Yeow! Yeow! Yeow!" persisted the voice behind, and it was coming
+nearer every second.
+
+Tad slackened the speed of his pony ever so little, despite the peril
+of his position.
+
+"There's somebody in there behind me, and, he'll never get out alive
+if he loses his way."
+
+The moment this thought occurred to him, Tad began to yell at the top
+of his voice.
+
+Suddenly from out the thick veil of smoke burst a pony with a mighty
+snort, coming on in bounds, each one of which cleared many feet of
+ground. On the pony's back was Stacy Brown, hatless, coatless, his
+hair standing up in the breeze, his face as red as if it had come in
+actual contact with the flames.
+
+"Yeow!" he roared, as his pony shot past Tad as if the latter's mount
+were standing still. Where Stacy had come from, how he had passed
+through that wall of flame, Tad had not the slightest idea.
+
+As a matter of fact the explanation was simple enough. The guide had
+sent Chunky out to assist Tad in bringing in the rip-rapping material.
+Stacy had made a detour from the camp, having gotten just inside the
+danger zone when the fire broke out. Guided by the butte where he knew
+his companion must be, Stacy headed for that point. There he came upon
+Tad's trail, and began yelling to attract his attention. He had heard
+Tad's answering cry, and this inspired the fat boy to renewed efforts.
+
+Stacy, now that he had passed Tad, slowed up ever so little. He had
+passed his companion so swiftly that he was unable to determine
+whether or not Tad were in distress.
+
+The latter came up, overhauling Stacy in a few moments. Both ponies
+were steaming from the terrific gruelling they were giving themselves.
+
+"What you doing here?" exploded Tad.
+
+"Same thing you are."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Trying to save myself from being burned alive--"
+
+"Don't slow up! Don't slow up!" shouted Tad. "Keep going!"
+
+"I am. Wat's matter with you?"
+
+"I don't see what you had to come tumbling into this mess for,"
+objected Tad.
+
+"Didn't tumble in. Rode in. Came to help you--"
+
+"Precious lot of help you'll be to me. Lucky if we're not both burned
+with our boots on. See! The flame's narrowing in on us. More steam,
+Chunky! More steam!" urged Tad.
+
+"Can't. Blow up the boiler if I do," Stacy could not be other than
+humorous, even under their present trying situation.
+
+"That's better than burning out your fires, and it's quicker too--"
+
+All at once, Chunky uttered a terrible howl. His pony had stepped into
+a hole and gone down floundering in the long grass, Chunky himself
+having been hurled over the animal's head, landing several feet in
+advance.
+
+"Help! Help!"
+
+The rest was lost as the fat boy's face plowed the earth filling
+mouth, eyes and nostrils.
+
+Tad did not lose his presence of mind, though events had been
+following each other in such quick succession.
+
+Changing the reins to his right hand and bunching them there, he
+grasped the pommel of the saddle, driving his own pony straight at the
+kicking, floundering Chunky.
+
+The pony swerved ever so little, Tad's body swept down, and when it
+rose, his fingers were fastened in the shirt collar of his companion,
+with Chunky yelling and choking, as he was being dragged over the
+ground at almost a killing pace.
+
+Tad had no time to do more than hold on to his friend. He dared not
+stop to lift him to the saddle just then. The flames were roaring
+behind them and on either side, leaving a long, narrow lane ahead,
+through which lay their only hope of safety.
+
+"Buck up! Buck up, Chunky!" shouted Tad, himself taking a fresh brace
+in the stirrups, for the weight of the fat boy's dragging body was
+slowly pulling Tad from the saddle.
+
+Stacy was howling like an Indian, not from fear, but from anger at the
+rough usage to which he was being subjected. He did not stop to think
+that it was the only way his life might be saved-- nor that his own
+pony lay back there in the bunch grass amid the flame and smoke.
+
+Tad knew it.
+
+Now, by a mighty effort Tad righted himself again, and, leaning
+forward, threw one arm about the pony's neck, trusting to the animal
+to follow the outward trail to safety of its own accord.
+
+Tad felt a sudden jolt that nearly caused him to slide from his pony
+on the side opposite Chunky. At the same time, the strain on the lad's
+arm was suddenly released.
+
+Tad was up on his saddle like a flash. His right hand held the fat
+boy's shirt, while a series of howls to the rear told him where the
+owner of the shirt lay.
+
+Tad groaned. Pulling his pony fairly back on its haunches, he dashed
+back where Stacy lay kicking, entangling himself deeper and deeper in
+the bunch grass.
+
+Had Tad not had presence of mind they both might have perished right
+there. He was off like a flash. With supreme strength, he grasped the
+body of his fallen companion, raising him into the saddle.
+
+"Hold on!" he shouted. "Don't you dare fall off!"
+
+Stacy clung like a monkey to a pony in a circus race.
+
+"Y-i-i-p!" trilled Tad. He had no time to mount. Already he could feel
+the hot breath of the flames on his cheek.
+
+The broncho was off with a bound.
+
+"Tad! Tad!" cried Chunky in sudden alarm, now realizing that he was
+alone. "Whe-- where are you?"
+
+"H-h-h-h-e-r-e!"
+
+"W-w-where?"
+
+"H-h-h-holding to the b-r-r-oncho's t-tail."
+
+"Wow!" howled Stacy, as, turning in the saddle, he discovered his
+companion being fairly jerked through the air, holding fast to the
+pony's tail, the lad's feet hardly touching the ground at all. The
+broncho, that ordinarily would have resented such treatment, too fully
+occupied in saving his own life from the flames, gave no heed to the
+weight he was dragging, and it is doubtful if he even realized there
+was any additional weight there.
+
+With a final, desperate leap, the broncho shot out ahead of the
+narrowing lane. Like the jaws of some great monster, the two lapping
+lines of fire closed in behind them, roaring as if with deadly rage.
+
+The pony dashed out into a broad, open water course, whose dry,
+glistening sands would prove an effectual barrier to the prairie fire.
+
+Tad, though everything was swimming before his eyes, realized quickly
+that they were now well out of danger.
+
+"St-t-t-top him. I c-c-c-an't let go if you d-d-don't."
+
+"Whoa! Whoa! Don't you know enough to quit when you're through?"
+chided Chunky, tugging at the reins. The broncho carried them some
+distance before the lad was able to pull him down. Finally he did so.
+
+"Leggo!" he shouted, at the same time whirling the pony sharply about,
+fairly "cracking the whip" with Tad Butler.
+
+Chunky's clever foresight probably saved Tad Butler's life, for,
+instantly the pony found itself free, it began bucking and kicking in
+a circle, kicking a ring all round the compass before it finally
+decided to settle down on all fours. Finishing, it meekly lowered its
+nose to the ground and now, as docile as a, kitten after having supped
+on warm milk, began dozing, the steam rising in a cloud from its
+sides.
+
+"Well, of all the fool fools, you're the champion fool!" growled
+Stacy, slipping from the saddle and surveying the broncho with
+disapproving eyes. "Hah! I guess we'd been done to a turn by this if
+it hadn't been for you, just the same. Hello, Tad!"
+
+Tad had doubled up in a heap where the tail of the broncho had flung
+him. He was well-nigh spent, but he smiled back at his companion, who
+stood on a slight rise of ground, almost a heroic figure.
+
+Chunky's shirt was entirely missing, his skin red from the heat,
+ridged with scratches where he had come in violent contact with cactus
+plants, his hair tousled and gray with dust.
+
+"Well you are a sight," grinned Tad.
+
+"You wouldn't take a prize at a baby show yourself," retorted Stacy,
+spicily.
+
+Tad's clothes were torn, and his limbs were black and blue all the way
+down where the hoofs of the broncho had raked them again and again.
+
+"My arms feel a foot longer than they did. What are you looking at?"
+
+Stacy's eyes grew large and luminous as he gazed off over the plains.
+
+"Look! Look, Tad!" he whispered.
+
+  CHAPTER XIII
+
+ FOLLOWING A HOT TRAIL
+
+"Fire! Fire!" cried Professor Zepplin, leaping up from where he had
+been leaning over, watching the water bubbling in the bottom of the
+excavation they had made.
+
+The guide had been hanging over the hole, dipping water to Ned, who
+was turning it into the water-bags.
+
+"Where, where?" demanded Mr. Kringle explosively. He also sprang to
+his feet. "It's a prairie fire!"
+
+"The boys are caught. They'll perish!" exclaimed Professor Zepplin,
+with blanching face. "Go to them, go to them, Mr. Kringle!" he begged.
+
+"No living thing could get through that wall of fire, Professor,"
+announced the guide impressively. "We'll shout and perhaps, if alive,
+they'll bear us."
+
+They did so, with the result already known.
+
+"Which direction did Master Stacy take?" Mr. Kringle asked.
+
+"I saw him riding down that way," replied Walter, pointing excitedly.
+
+"Then, perhaps he is safe outside of the fire zone. Some of you hurry
+back to the camp, The stock may take fright and stampede. No, we'll
+all go. The wind may shift at any moment, and while I do not think the
+flames could reach the camp, all our animals might be suffocated, even
+if they did not succeed in getting away."
+
+"But you're not going to desert Tad and Chunky, are you?" demanded
+Walter indignantly.
+
+"Certainly not. What can we do here? We must get the ponies first;
+then we'll hurry to them. I'm afraid they've been caught," answered
+the guide.
+
+"If there's any way of escape you may depend upon it that Master Tad
+has discovered that way," answered the Professor. "He is a resourceful
+boy, and--"
+
+But the rest were already dashing madly toward the camp and Professor
+Zepplin began to do so with all speed to catch up with them. The hot
+breath of the prairie fire had brought the color to his blanched
+cheeks.
+
+"How-- how do you think the fire started?" stammered the Professor,
+when he at last came up with the guide.
+
+"It was set afire," answered Kris Kringle grimly.
+
+"Set!" shouted the Professor and the two boys all in one breath.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"That remains to be seen."
+
+"Do you mean that one of the boys was imprudent enough to build a fire
+in that grass? Surely they would not have been so foolish as to do a
+thing like that."
+
+"As I said, that remains to be seen. The first thing to be done is to
+get to them as quickly as possible, though I don't know that we can do
+any good. They're either out of it, by this time, or else they're
+not," added Mr. Kringle suggestively. "Professor, I wish you and one
+of the boys would get out your rifles, mount your ponies and watch the
+camp, while two of us go in search of the lost ones."
+
+"Watch the camp?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"Merely as a precaution."
+
+"I'll attend to that. I want all of you to get after Tad and Stacy. We
+don't care about the camp particularly, when compared with two human
+lives."
+
+The smoke was rolling over them in such dense clouds that the camp was
+wholly obscured from view until they were upon it.
+
+"Quick! Get the horses before they break away!" commanded the guide.
+
+"I can't find them!" shouted Ned, who had bounded on ahead and
+disappeared in the great suffocating cloud.
+
+Walter was only a few steps behind him, both boys groping, blinking
+and coughing as the smoke got into eyes and lungs.
+
+"Lie down when it gets stronger than you can stand. There's always a
+current of fresh air near the ground," called the guide.
+
+Both lads adopted his suggestion instantly, and they were none too
+soon, for already they were getting dizzy. After a few long breaths,
+they were up, groping about once more in search of the stock.
+
+"Over to you right," called the Professor.
+
+"We've been there. They're not there at all," answered Ned.
+
+By this time the guide had dived into the cloud.
+
+"The stock has gone," they heard him shoat.
+
+"Have they stampeded?" roared the Professor.
+
+"I don't know. I'll find out in a minute."
+
+"Queer that this smoke blows two ways at once," said Walter.
+
+"There is a slight breeze blowing this way," explained Ned. "Not
+enough, however, to turn the fire back. It has got too good a start."
+
+Suddenly a weird "c-o-o-e-e" sounded to the right of them.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"It's the guide, Walt. He's trying to call the boys, to see if they
+are alive," explained Ned.
+
+"I don't think so. That cry is for some other purpose. I'm going over
+where he is to find out what it does mean. Come on."
+
+Together the lads ran as fast as they could in the direction from
+which the guide's voice had come.
+
+They found him with hands shaped into a megaphone, uttering his shrill
+cries. He made no answer to their questions as to what he was trying
+to do.
+
+All at once off in the cloud they heard rapid hoofbeats. The boys
+glanced at each other in surprise.
+
+"It's the ponies returning," breathed Walter Perkins.
+
+Ned shook his head.
+
+The cries now took on a more insistent tone, and a moment later two
+ponies came whinnying into the camp, snorting with fear. Kris Kringle
+spoke to them sharply, whereupon they came trotting up to him with
+every evidence of pleasure.
+
+The lads were amazed.
+
+"Can you boys shoot a rope?"
+
+"Yes," they answered together.
+
+"Which one is the better at it?"
+
+"Ned is more expert than I am."
+
+"Take one of my ponies. We've got to go after the stock. Rope and
+bring them in as fast as possible. It's getting late, and it will be
+dark before we know it. There's not more than two hours of daylight
+left."
+
+"I can take my pony and help," began Walter.
+
+"You haven't any pony. They're all gone."
+
+Ned and the guide dashed from the camp at break-neck speed. Emerging
+from the dust cloud they saw some of the stock far off on the plain.
+
+"There they are!" cried Ned
+
+"Thank goodness, they're all together. And they are not running. We've
+got them bunched."
+
+"Were they afraid of the smoke? What made them break away?"
+
+"They didn't break away."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Their tethers were cut and they were sent adrift," answered the guide
+grimly;
+
+Ned was speechless with surprise.
+
+Some of the ponies, objecting to being roped, ran away, necessitating
+a lively chase. Kris Kringle worked with the precision of an automatic
+gun and with proportionate speed. In half an hour they had roped all
+the ponies, and, with the burros trailing along behind, started back
+to camp as rapidly as possible.
+
+A heavy pall of smoke still hung over the camp and all the surrounding
+country.
+
+Once more they staked down the ponies and pack animals, and urging
+vigilance on the part of Professor Zepplin, Ned and the guide dashed
+away at full gallop in search of the two missing lads.
+
+"Are we going through the fire?" questioned Ned apprehensively.
+
+"We're going to try it. The worst of it must have passed before this,
+but we may have to turn back or turn out for spots. It's the shortest
+way, and the only course to follow if we want to know what has become
+of them."
+
+Spreading out a little they continued on their way, the ponies
+snorting, threatening to whirl about and race back into the open
+plain. The ground was like a furnace and the grass smouldered beneath
+them, heating their feet and singeing their fetlocks.
+
+Suddenly Ned's pony reared into the air, bucked and hurled its rider
+far over into the smouldering bunch grass.
+
+Ned uttered a yell of warning as he felt himself going.
+
+The guide wheeled like a flash. Ned's mount had whirled and was away
+like a shot. But the guide was after him with even greater speed. The
+chase came to an abrupt ending some few rods farther on, when Kris
+Kringle's lariat squirmed out, bringing the fleeing pony to the ground
+with its nose in the hot dust.
+
+Without dismounting, the guide turned his own mount, and fairly
+dragging the unwilling pony behind him, pounded back to the place
+where Ned had been unhorsed.
+
+"Grab him!" commanded the guide to Ned, who had quickly scrambled to
+his feet. "What was it that he saw?"
+
+"I don't know. Guess he made up his mind to go back."
+
+"No; he saw something. Hang on to him and cover the ground all about
+you till you find it."
+
+"Wha-- what do you--"
+
+"Never mind. Look!"
+
+"Here! Here it is!" cried Ned aghast.
+
+The guide was at his side instantly.
+
+"It's a pony," gasped the Pony Rider boy.
+
+Kris Kringle was off his own mount instantly, and bidding Ned hold the
+animal, he made a brief examination of the fallen horse, after which
+he darted here and there, unheeding the fact that the still burning
+grass was blistering his feet through the heavy soles of his boots.
+
+For several rods Kringle ran along the faint trail that Tad and Stacy
+had left, or rather, that the fire had left after passing over it.
+
+"They beat their way out here. We may find them later. Come on!"
+
+Again Ned and the guide dashed away, both keeping their gaze on the
+smoking prairie about them. The smoke now was almost more than they
+could bear.
+
+"Do-- do you think they are alive?" asked Ned unsteadily.
+
+"So far. If they are not, it's not their fault. The Professor is
+right. Those boys have pluck enough to pull them through, but
+sometimes pluck alone will not do it. A prairie fire is no respecter
+of pluck."
+
+They burst out into an open space. There were no signs of either of
+the missing boys.
+
+"Something has happened to them. We must have missed them," announced
+the guide.
+
+  CHAPTER XIV
+
+ AGAINST BIG ODDS
+
+"What is it, Chunky?"
+
+"There!"
+
+Tad jerked his companion flat on the ground, flattening himself beside
+Stacy at the same instant.
+
+What had caused their sudden alarm was the sight of two Indians,
+sitting on their ponies without saddles, some distance out on the open
+plain. The redskins were wrapped in their brightly colored blankets,
+which enveloped them from head to knees. Even the hands were invisible
+beneath the folds of the blankets.
+
+"D-d-do you think they saw us, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know. It's safe to say they did. Indian eyes don't miss very
+much. You ought to know that, by this time. I wish we could make that
+pony lie down."
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+"He's too afraid of the ground-- thinks it's still hot, and I don't
+blame him. The fire has singed him pretty well as it is.
+
+The Indians sat their mounts as motionless as statues, the ponies
+headed directly toward where the two lads were lying.
+
+"I'll bet they're got guns under those blankets," decided Tad. "You
+can't trust an Indian even while you are looking at him."
+
+"Anybody'd think you'd been hunting Indians all your life," growled
+Stacy.
+
+"They've been hunting me mostly," grinned Tad.
+
+"And usually caught you," added Chunky.
+
+"I don't like this lying here as if we were scared of them."
+
+"But, what else can we do, Tad?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Neither do I. Wish I had a shirt. I'll spoil my complexion clear down
+to my waist. Resides, I'm not fit to be seen."
+
+"You're lucky to be alive," growled Tad. "I'm going to get out of
+this."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Listen, and you'll know. I'm going to get on the pony; then, as soon
+as I'm in the saddle, you jump up behind me and we'll start back to
+camp."
+
+"Not-- not through that fire?" protested Stacy.
+
+"No; I don't dare try it. I'm afraid we'd get lost in the smoke and
+perhaps get burned as well. We'll ride out some distance, then turn to
+the left and try to go around the burned district."
+
+"What if the Indians chase us?"
+
+"I don't believe they will. They'll hardly dare do that. And, besides,
+these may be friendly Indians."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Stacy. "They look it."
+
+Tad got up boldly, and without even looking toward the silent red men,
+began fussing about his saddle, cinching the girths, and straightening
+the saddle. His last act before mounting was to see that the coils of
+his lariat were in order.
+
+"All right," announced the lad, vaulting into the saddle.
+
+Stacy scrambled up behind him without loss of time, and they rode out
+into the open, the fat boy peering apprehensively over his companion's
+shoulder.
+
+"You keep watch of them, Chunky, but don't let them see you doing it.
+I won't look at them at all. We don't want them to think we're
+afraid."
+
+Stacy fidgeted.
+
+"You bet I'll watch 'em. Wish I had my rifle."
+
+"I don't."
+
+"Huh!"
+
+"You have distinguished yourself quite enough with that rifle as it
+is. We don't want any more of your fancy shooting."
+
+"There they go," warned Stacy.
+
+"I see them." Tad had been cautiously observing the horsemen out of
+the corners of his eyes. "Moving in the same direction we are. I don't
+like the looks of it. Still, if they don't get any nearer we may be
+thankful."
+
+The pony carrying the boys was walking easily, and the mounts of the
+Indians were doing the same.
+
+"Jog a little," suggested Stacy.
+
+"That's a good idea. It will tell us quickly whether they are trying
+to keep up with us."
+
+He touched the pony lightly with his spurs. The little animal switched
+its tail, for its sides were tender, and started off.
+
+"There they go, Tad! Jogging the same gait as ours!"
+
+Tad's face took on the stubborn look it always wore when he had
+determined upon a certain course of action.
+
+"I'll beat them yet, even if there are only two of them. I wish there
+weren't two of us on this nag."
+
+"I'll get off and walk," suggested. Stacy.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort. That would be a nice thing to do,
+wouldn't it? They'd round you up quicker'n they could a lame burro."
+
+"Say, Tad."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I've got an idea."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"You know that sage hen we had?"
+
+"Yes, what's that got to do with our present predicament?"
+
+"I was wondering why there aren't any sage roosters?"
+
+"You'll be a sage rooster, with your head off, first thing you know,"
+snapped Tad in disgust. "Can't you be serious for a minute? Don't you
+see we are in a fix?"
+
+"Uh-huh!"
+
+"There, that fellow is trying to head us off."
+
+One of the Indians had shot away from his companion, running obliquely
+toward the point to which Tad was headed.
+
+The red man had gotten quite a start before the boys caught the
+significance of his manoeuvre.
+
+Tad dug in the spurs.
+
+At that instant the fat boy's hands had been removed from Tad, to
+whose body they had been clinging.
+
+The pony leaped forward, and Stacy slid over its rump, hitting the
+ground with a jolt that jarred him.
+
+"Wow!" howled Stacy.
+
+Tad, instantly divining what had happened, pulled up sharply; wheeled
+and raced back to where his companion was still complaining loudly and
+rubbing his body.
+
+"Get up!" roared Tad, leaning over and grasping Stacy by the hair of
+his head.
+
+The fat boy was jerked sharply to his feet.
+
+"Quick! Quick, climb up here!"
+
+With the help of his companion, the lad scrambled up behind Tad again,
+muttering and rubbing himself.
+
+By this time the leading horseman had wholly outdistanced them, and
+his pony was now loping along easily, while the second Indian appeared
+to be riding directly toward them, at right angles to the direction in
+which they were traveling.
+
+All at once the two Indians began riding about the boys in a circle,
+uttering short little "yips," intended to terrify the lads, but not
+loud enough to be heard any great distance away.
+
+"Hang on! We're going to ride for keeps now!" warned Tad.
+
+The fat boy threw both arms about his companion's waist as the pony
+let out into a swift run. At first Tad thought he had gotten safely
+out of the circle, only to discover that they had headed him again.
+
+The circle was narrowing, and the Indians were gradually drawing in on
+them.
+
+Stacy's eyes were growing larger every minute, perhaps more from
+astonishment than from fear. Then, too, he could not but admire the
+riding of their pursuers. Even the blankets of the Indians appeared
+not to be disturbed in the least by their rapid riding, the horsemen
+sitting a little sideways on the ponies' backs, the reins bunched
+loosely in their left bands.
+
+"They've got us, Tad."
+
+"They shan't get us!" retorted Tad stubbornly. "If they don't use
+their guns-- and I don't believe they will-- we'll beat them yet."
+
+If Stacy was doubtful he did not say so.
+
+"If they get close to us, you be ready to let go of me when I give the
+word," cautioned Tad.
+
+"What for? What you going to do?"
+
+"I don't know yet. That depends upon circumstances. I'm not going to
+let them have it all their own way while I've got a pony under me. We
+may get help any minute, too, so the longer we can put off a clash the
+better it will be for us."
+
+"Who you mean-- Santa Claus?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"They're closing in now," said Stacy.
+
+"Take your hands away from my waist."
+
+"But I'll fall off, Tad."
+
+"Slip one hand through under my belt and take hold of the cantle with
+the other. Sit as low as you can so as not to get in my way."
+
+Stacy obeyed his companion's directions without further comment, but
+he was all curiosity to know what was going to happen next.
+
+The Indians were drawing nearer every second now. The boys could see
+the expressions on their evil faces, intensified by the streaks of
+yellow and red paint.
+
+"They look as though they'd stuck their heads in a paint pail," was
+Chunky's muttered comment.
+
+The blankets fell away from the racing savages, flapped on the rumps
+of the bobbing ponies for a few seconds and then slipped to the
+ground.
+
+A rifle was reposing in each man's holster, as Tad observed instantly.
+He was thankful to note that the guns were not in the hands of the
+Indians.
+
+The lad's right hand had dropped carelessly to the saddle horn, the
+fingers cautiously gathering in the coils of the lariat that hung
+there. The red men did not appear to have observed his act.
+
+"Lie low!" commanded Tad, scarcely above a whisper.
+
+Stacy settled down slowly so as not to attract attention.
+
+One horseman shot directly across Tad's course, striking the lad's
+pony full in the face as he did so, and causing the animal to brace
+himself so suddenly as to nearly unseat both boys.
+
+Tad's rope was in the air in a twinkling.
+
+A warning shout from the second Indian, who was just to the rear of
+them, came too late. The rope shot true to its mark and the first
+savage, with back half-turned, had failed to observe it coming.
+
+The great loop dropped over his head. The pony braced itself and Tad
+took a quick turn of the rope about the pommel of his saddle.
+
+The result was instantaneous. The Indian was catapulted from his
+saddle with arms pinioned to his aide.
+
+"Ye-ow!" howled Chunky; unable to restrain his enthusiasm.
+
+Tad did not even hear him.
+
+"Look out! Here comes the other one!" warned the fat boy.
+
+But Tad was too busily engaged in keeping the line taut about the
+roped Indian. The fellow was struggling on the ground, fighting to
+free himself, while the boy with the rope was manoeuvring his pony in
+a series of lightning-like movements that made the fat boy's head
+swim.
+
+"Take care of him, Chunky!! I can't," gasped Tad.
+
+Stacy's eyes took on a belligerent expression as the second savage
+bore down upon them, with knees gripped tightly against the side of
+his pony, half raising himself above the animal's back, reins dropped
+on the pony's neck. The Indian was guiding his mount by the pressure
+of legs and knees alone.
+
+The angry redskin was making futile attempts to get into a position
+where he might grab the active Tad. He did not seem to take into
+account the cringing figure behind the boy who had roped the other
+Indian.
+
+All at once, at the opportune moment, his pony forging ahead, the
+Indian's hand shot out. The red, bony fingers were closing upon Tad
+Butler's right shoulder, when all at once something happened.
+
+The cringing fat boy rose. The right hand that had been clinging to
+the cantle was launched out. His body, thrown forward at the same
+time, lent the blow added force.
+
+Chunky's fist came into violent contact with the Indian's jaw. Mr.
+Redman disappeared from the back of his pony so quickly that, for a
+second, Stacy could scarcely believe his eyes.
+
+"Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!" howled the fat boy. "Beat it for the tall grass,
+Tad!"
+
+A quick glance behind him, revealed the true state of affairs to Tad
+Butler. He dug in the spurs, clinging to the lariat for a few feet,
+then suddenly releasing it, as the pony leaped away under the stinging
+pressure of the spurs.
+
+"Duck! Duck! They're going to shoot!" shouted Tad.
+
+  CHAPTER XV
+
+ HIT BY A DRY STORM
+
+"There it goes! Lower, Chunky!"
+
+A rifle had crashed somewhere to the left of them.
+
+Stacy's curiosity getting the better of him, he had twisted his body
+around, and was peering back; but he was bobbing up and down so fast
+that he found it difficult to fix his eyes on any one point long
+enough to distinguish what that object was.
+
+"Look! Look!" he cried, when in a long rise of the pony his eyes had
+caught something definite.
+
+The roped Indian was running for his pony, which he caught, leaping to
+its back and dashing away madly.
+
+"Hold up! Hold up! There's something doing," shouted the fat, boy.
+
+Tad swerved a little, turning to his left. Rifles were banging, and
+the dust was spurting up under the feet of the savage's racing pony.
+
+By this time, the second Indian had recovered from the blow that Stacy
+had landed on his jaw, and he too was in his saddle in a twinkling,
+tearing madly cross the plain.
+
+Stacy Brown uttered a series of wild whoops and yells. He knew their
+assailants were running and that some one was shooting at the Indians,
+but who it was the fat boy could only guess.
+
+Two ponies suddenly dashed out from the low-lying smoke cloud. One of
+their riders was swinging his sombrero and cheering; the other was
+firing his rifle after the fleeing savages.
+
+"Hooray, it's Santa Claus," howled Stacy, fairly beside himself with
+excitement. Even Tad caught something of his companion's spirit of
+enthusiasm. He swung his hand and started galloping toward the two
+horsemen.
+
+"Shoot 'em! Kill 'em!" howled Chunky.
+
+But Santa Claus merely shook his head, and after refilling the
+magazine of his rifle slipped it into the holster.
+
+"It would only make trouble and probably cause an uprising if I did.
+They know I could have winged them both had I wanted to," he grinned.
+"Well, you boys are a sight."
+
+"I-- I lost my shirt," interjected Stacy.
+
+"And I suppose you fell in," chuckled Ned.
+
+"No; I fell off."
+
+"We're lucky to be alive," laughed Tad.
+
+"You are that. I see now that Professor Zepplin was right when he said
+you could take care of yourself. Never saw anything quite so slick as
+the way you roped that redskin--"
+
+"And-- and I punched the other one," glowed Chunky.
+
+"Did you see us?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Yes, we saw the whole proceeding. But you were so mixed up that we
+couldn't fire without danger of hitting one of you boys. Wonder what
+those Apaches think struck them," laughed the guide. "How did you get
+through the fire?"
+
+Tad explained briefly; at the same time accounting for the loss of
+Stacy's shirt.
+
+"I bet that the fellow with the canary-wing face has a sore jaw,"
+bubbled Stacy.
+
+"No doubt of it, Master Stacy. I didn't suppose you had such a punch
+as that. You're a good Indian fighter."
+
+"Always was," answered the fat boy, swelling with importance.
+
+"Come, we'll have to hurry back It will be dark before we reach camp,
+as it is, and the Professor will be worrying about you."
+
+They turned about, and, heading across the burned area, started for
+camp. Fitful blazes were springing up here and there, but all danger
+had, by this time, passed, though the smoke still hung heavy and the
+odor of burned vegetation smote the nostrils unpleasantly.
+
+Stacy sniffed the air suspiciously.
+
+"Tastes like a drug store fire I smelled once in Chillicothe," he
+averred.
+
+"I haven't made up my mind, yet, how that fire started, Mr. Kringle,"
+wondered Tad.
+
+"I have," replied the guide tersely.
+
+"How?"
+
+"It was set afire!"
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By one of those savages, or by somebody who was with them. They must
+have been watching you all the time. Did you recognize either of them
+as the fellow you knocked down the other might?"
+
+"No; I don't think I would know the Indian. The light was too
+uncertain at the fire dance, and then again, all Indians look alike to
+me."
+
+"It was a narrow escape."
+
+"Do you think they'll come back again?" questioned Ned.
+
+"I doubt it. They won't if they recognized me. They know me. They've
+done business with me before."
+
+Professor Zepplin and Walter were overjoyed when at last the party
+rode into camp and they learned that both boys were safe. The lads
+were obliged to go all over their experiences again for the benefit of
+the Professor and Walter.
+
+"It's getting worse and worse," decided the Professor helplessly. "I
+don't know where all this is going to end. I thought when we got a new
+guide-- but what's the use? Do you think we had better start to-night,
+Mr. Kringle?"
+
+"No. There is no necessity."
+
+"What am I going to do for a pony?" asked Chunky.
+
+"You can ride one of mine. I always take two when on a long journey,"
+replied the guide.
+
+Chunky's first act after reaching camp, was to provide himself with a
+shirt. After donning it, he announced that he had an appetite and
+wanted to know when they were going to have supper.
+
+"Why, you had supper hours ago," scoffed Ned. "Want another one
+already?"
+
+"That wasn't supper, that was four o'clock tea. Indian fighters must
+have real food."
+
+"Stop teasing. We'll give the 'ittle baby his milk," returned Ned.
+
+That night, Kris Kringle remained on guard himself. He would not trust
+the guardianship of the camp to any of the boys, for he fully expected
+that they would receive a visit from one or more of the Indians,
+though he did not tell the others so. But nothing occurred to disturb
+the camp, and the boys, despite their trying experiences, slept
+soundly, awakening in the morning fresh and active, ready and anxious
+for any further adventures.
+
+The party set out shortly after sunrise, and traveled all day across
+the uneven plains, across short mountain ranges, through deep gorges
+and rugged foothills.
+
+Crossing an open space the guide espied a bottle glistening in the
+sunlight.
+
+"There's a bottle," pointed the guide. "Want it?"
+
+Stacy glanced at it indifferently;
+
+"What do I want of a bottle?"
+
+"Then I'll take it," decided the guide, dismounting and stowing the
+abandoned piece of glass in his saddle bags.
+
+"Bottles are good for only two things."
+
+"And what are they, Master Stacy?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"To keep things in and to shoot at," replied the fat boy wisely.
+
+Everybody laughed at that.
+
+"I guess that embodies everything you can say about bottles," smiled
+the Professor. "Your logic, at times, young man, is unassailable."
+
+Chunky nodded. He had a faint idea of what Professor Zepplin meant.
+
+Late that afternoon the travelers came upon a shack in the foothills,
+where an old rancher, a hermit, lived when not tending his little
+flock of sheep, most of which, Kris Kringle said, the old man had
+stolen from droves that came up over the trail going north.
+
+He was an interesting old character, this hermit, and the boys decided
+that they would like to make camp and have him take supper with them.
+This the Professor and the guide readily agreed to, for everyone was
+hot and dusty and the bronchos were nervous and ill-natured.
+
+The boys found the old rancher talkative enough on all subjects save
+himself. When Chunky asked him where he came from, and what for, the
+old man's face flushed angrily.
+
+At the first opportunity the guide took the fat boy aside for some
+fatherly advice.
+
+"In this country it isn't good policy to be too curious about a man's
+family affairs. He's likely to resent it in a way you won't like. Most
+fellows out here have reasons for being out of the world, beyond
+what's apparent on the surface."
+
+Chunky heeded the advice and asked no more personal questions for the
+next hour, though he did forget himself before the evening was ended.
+
+"You seem to be having pretty dry weather down here," said the
+Professor, by way of starting the old man to talking.
+
+"Yep. Haven't had any rain in this belt fer the last two years."
+
+"Two years!" exclaimed the boys.
+
+"Yep. Had a few light dews, but that's all," replied the hermit.
+
+"Looks to me as if you were going to get some to-night," announced
+Tad.
+
+"Reckon not."
+
+"Then I'm no judge of weather."
+
+Even as Tad spoke there was a low muttering of thunder, and the far
+lightning flashed pale and green, and rose on the long horizon to the
+southwest.
+
+Kris Kringle heard the far away growl. Springing up, he began staking
+down the tents.
+
+"That's a good idea. We lost our whole outfit on our last trip. Think
+they'll stand a blow?"
+
+"I guess they will when I get through with them. Have we any more
+stakes in camp?"
+
+"There should be some in the kit."
+
+Tad searched until he found several more stakes, and with these and
+the emergency ropes, they made the tents secure.
+
+By the time they had done so, the heavens had grown black and
+menacing. They could see the storm sweeping down on them. It was a
+magnificent sight, and the lads were so lost in observing its grandeur
+that they forgot to feel any alarm.
+
+A cloud of dust accompanied the advance guard of the storm.
+
+"Reckon there ain't any rain in them clouds," commented the old man.
+"There's plenty of the other thing, though."
+
+"What's the other thing?" questioned Chunky.
+
+"Lightning."
+
+Even as he spoke a bolt descended right in the center of the camp,
+tearing a hole in the earth and hurling a cloud of dirt and dust many
+feet up into the air.
+
+The force of the explosion knocked some of the party flat.
+
+Chunky picked himself up and carefully brushed his clothes; then,
+solemnly walked out and sat down on the spot where the lightning had
+struck.
+
+"Here, here! What are you doing out there?" demanded the guide.
+
+"Sitting on the lightning."
+
+"You come in here! And quick, at that!"
+
+"Huh! Guess I know what I'm doing. Lightning never strikes twice in
+the same place. I'm--"
+
+By this time Kris Kringle had the fat boy by the collar, hustling him
+to the protection of one of the tents.
+
+No sooner had they reached it than a crash that seemed as if it had
+split the earth wide open descended upon them. Balls of fire shot off
+in every direction. One went right through the tent where they were
+huddled, hurling the Pony Rider Boys in a heap.
+
+They scrambled up calling to each other nervously.
+
+The shock had extinguished the lantern that hung in the tent. The
+guide relighted it, and, stepping outside to see what had happened,
+pointed to the place where Chunky had been sitting but a few minutes
+before.
+
+The bolt had struck in the identical spot where the previous one had
+landed.
+
+"Now, young man, there's an object lesson for you," Mr. Kringle said,
+with a grim smile.
+
+"And there's another!" replied Chunky, pointing to the outside of the
+tent.
+
+There lay the old rancher, whose absence they had not noted. He had
+been in the tent with them when they last saw him and how he had
+gotten out there none knew. The rancher had been stripped of every
+vestige of clothing by the freaky lightning.
+
+"He's dead," crooned Stacy solemnly.
+
+"Get water, quick! He's been struck by lightning!" commanded the
+guide, making systematic efforts to bring the old man back to
+consciousness.
+
+Stacy ran for the water-bags.
+
+"I am afraid it is useless, Mr. Kringle," warned, the Professor,
+failing to find a pulse. The boys were standing about fanning the
+victim, having one by one dumped the contents of their canteens in his
+face.
+
+Stacy returned with a water-bag after a little.
+
+"I-- I-- I've got an idea," he exploded, as with eyes wide open he
+attempted to tell them something.
+
+"Keep still. We've got something else to do besides listening to your
+foolishness," chided Ned.
+
+"Chunky, we're trying to save this man's life. Give me that bag,"
+commanded Tad.
+
+The two older men were working desperately on the patient. Stacy stood
+around, fidgeting a little, but making no further attempt to enlighten
+them as to what his new idea was.
+
+After a time the rancher began to show signs of recovering. He gasped
+a few times then opened his eyes.
+
+"What kicked me?" he asked, with a half-grin.
+
+They could all afford to laugh now, and they did. The rancher refused
+their offer of clothes, saying he had another suit in his shack.
+
+"That's twice the stuff has knocked me out. Next time it'll git me for
+keeps," he said.
+
+"Does it strike here very often?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Allus."
+
+"Then, there must be some mineral substance in the soil."
+
+"No, ain't nothing like that. Jest contrariness that's all. Hit my
+shack once, and 'cause 'twas raining, bored holes in the roof so the
+place got all wet inside."
+
+"But it isn't raining now. Doesn't it usually rain when you have a
+thunder storm here?" asked the Professor.
+
+"No. Ain't had no rain in nigh onto two year," the hermit reiterated.
+
+"You'd better go and put on some clothes," suggested Kris Kringle.
+
+"Guess that's right."
+
+The old man seemed to have forgotten his condition. The others had
+wrapped a blanket around him, which seemed to satisfy his demand for
+clothes. Gathering up the blanket he strolled leisurely toward his
+cabin, undisturbed by his recent experience.
+
+"Nothing like getting used to it," chuckled Stacy.
+
+"Hello, now we'll hear what your new idea is, Chunky?" jeered Ned.
+
+"Yes, what is it?" urged Tad.
+
+"Nothing much."
+
+"Never is," cut in Walter Perkins, a little maliciously.
+
+"I-- I got an idea the ponies tried to kick holes in the lightning."
+
+Everybody laughed loudly. They could well afford to laugh, now that
+the danger had passed.
+
+"What makes you think that?" asked the guide, eyeing him sharply.
+
+"'Cause they're dead!"
+
+"What!" shouted the boys.
+
+All hands dashed from the tent, Stacy regarding them with soulful
+eyes, after which he surreptitiously slipped a biscuit into his pocket
+and strolled out after them.
+
+  CHAPTER XVI
+
+ CHUNKY'S NEW IDEA
+
+Three of the ponies, they found, had been knocked down and so severely
+shocked that they were only just beginning to regain consciousness.
+
+"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Ned, turning on Stacy savagely.
+
+"You wouldn't let me. Maybe next time I've got an idea, you'll stop
+and listen."
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore a broad grin.
+
+"Master Stacy is right. He tried hard enough to tell us," he said.
+
+Chunky was humming blithely as the party set out next morning. He was
+pretty well satisfied with himself, for had he not been through a
+prairie fire, knocked a savage Apache off his horse, saved himself and
+his companions, besides having just escaped from being struck by
+lightning? Stacy swelled out his chest and held his chin a little bit
+higher than usual.
+
+"Chunky's got a swelled head," said Ned, nodding in the direction of
+the fat boy.
+
+"Swelled chest, you mean," laughed Walter. "Nobody has a better right.
+Chunky isn't half as big a fool as he'd have everybody believe. When
+we think we are having lots of fun with him he's really having sport
+with us. And those Indians-- say, Ned, do you think they will bother
+us any more?"
+
+"Ask Chunky," retorted Ned. "He's the oracle of the party."
+
+"I will," answered Walter, motioning for Stacy to join them, which the
+latter did leisurely. "We want to know if you think we've seen the
+last of the Apaches? Will they bother us any more?"
+
+The fat boy consulted the sky thoughtfully.
+
+"I think there's some of them around now," he replied.
+
+"What?"
+
+Stacy nodded wisely.
+
+"Santa Claus ought to have shot them."
+
+"Why, you cold-blooded savage!" scoffed Ned. "The idea!"
+
+"You'll see. I'd have done it, myself, if I'd had my gun," declared
+Stacy bravely.
+
+"Good thing for you that your gun was in camp, instead of in your
+holster."
+
+"Yes; I'd have lost the gun when the pony went down. Poor pony! Say,
+Walt," he murmured, leaning over toward his companion.
+
+"Well, out with it!"
+
+"This pony of Santa Claus's can jump further than a kangaroo."
+
+"Ever see a kangaroo jump?" sneered Ned.
+
+"No; but I've seen you try to. I'll show you, Walt, when we get a
+chance to go out and have a contest."
+
+"That would be good sport, wouldn't it, Ned?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"A jumping contest!"
+
+"If we didn't break our necks."
+
+"Can't break a Pony Rider Boy's neck. They're too tough," laughed
+Walter, to which sentiment, Stacy Brown agreed with a series of
+emphatic nods.
+
+"Say, Tad," called Walter, "what do you say to our jumping our ponies
+some time to-day?"
+
+Tad grinned appreciatively.
+
+"If the stock isn't too tired when we make camp, I think it would be
+great fun. We haven't had any real jumping contests in a long time."
+
+"Wish we had our stallions here, Tad."
+
+"They're better off at home, Chunky. Altogether too valuable horses
+for this kind of work. I'll speak to the guide."
+
+"Well, what is it, young man?" smiled Kris Kringle.
+
+"If you can find a level place for our camp we want to have a contest
+this afternoon. Professor, will you join us?"
+
+"What kind of a contest?"
+
+"Jumping."
+
+"No, thank you."
+
+"We will camp in the foothills of the Black range. You will find
+plenty of level ground there for your purpose," said the guide.
+
+In order that they might have more time for their games, an early halt
+was called. The first work was to pitch the camp, the ponies being
+allowed to graze and rest in the meantime, after which the lads
+started out on a broad, open plain for their sport.
+
+Their shouts of merriment drifted back to the camp where Kris Kringle
+and Professor Zepplin were setting things to rights and preparing an
+early supper, the sun still being some hours high.
+
+"That's a great bunch of boys, Professor."
+
+"Great for getting into difficulties."
+
+"And for getting out of them."
+
+"I'll put them against any other four lads in the world for hunting
+out trouble," laughed the Professor.
+
+The result of the afternoon's sport was a total of several spills and
+numerous black and blue spots on the bodies of the Pony Rider Boys.
+Stacy Brown on Kris Kringle's pony, carried off the honors, having
+taken a higher jump than did any of his companions. Then Stacy did it
+again, after the others had tried-- and failed to equal the record.
+
+The games being finished, Tad and Walter rode off to get a closer view
+of some peculiar rock formations that they had discovered in the high
+distance, while Ned and Chunky started slowly for the camp.
+
+The table had been set out in front of the tents when the fat boy and
+his companion came in sight of the camp.
+
+"Whew! but I'm hungry!" announced Stacy Brown.
+
+"But you didn't think of it until you saw the table set, did you?"
+
+"It wasn't the table, it was the shaking up I got back there that made
+me feel full of emptiness."
+
+"Huh!"
+
+"I've got an idea, Ned."
+
+"For goodness' sake, keep it to yourself, then. When you have an idea
+it spells trouble for everybody else around you."
+
+"Bet you I can."
+
+"Can what?" snorted Ned.
+
+"Bet you I can jump the dinner table and you can't."
+
+"Bet you can't."
+
+"Bet I can, and without even knocking a fly off the milk pitcher."
+
+"Go on, you! You try it first, and, if you don't make it, you lose. I
+don't have to try it if I don't want to," agreed Ned, with rare
+prudence.
+
+Chunky was fairly hugging himself with glee, but he took good care
+that Ned Rector did not observe his satisfaction.
+
+"If you don't you're a tenderfoot," taunted Stacy.
+
+"I'll show you who's the tenderfoot. You go ahead and bolt the dinner,
+table and all, if you dare. Now, then!"
+
+Stacy gathered up his reins. There was mischief in his eyes, which
+were fixed on the table, neatly set for the evening meal.
+
+"You start right after me. They'll be surprised to see a procession of
+ponies going over the table, won't they?"
+
+"Somebody'll be surprised. May not be the Professor and Santa Claus,
+though," growled Ned.
+
+Stacy had his own ideas on this question, but he did not confide them
+to his companion.
+
+The fat boy clucked to his pony, and the little animal started off. As
+they moved along, Stacy used the persuasive spurs resulting in a
+sudden burst of speed.
+
+"Come on!" he shouted.
+
+He heard Ned's pony pursuing him.
+
+"Hi-yi-yi-y-e-o-w!" howled the shrill voice of the fat boy.
+
+Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle were sitting at opposite ends of
+the table, with elbows leaning on it, engaged in earnest conversation.
+There had been so much yelling out on the plain ever since the boys
+left camp that the older men gave no heed to this new shout-- did not
+even turn their eyes in the direction whence Stacy Brown and his pony
+were sweeping down on them at break-neck speed.
+
+Suddenly the two men started back with a sudden exclamation, as a
+shadow fell athwart the table and a dark form hurled itself through
+the air, while a shrill, "w-h-o-o-p-e-e!" sounded right over their
+heads.
+
+The fat boy cleared the table without so much as disturbing the fly to
+which he had referred when making the arrangement.
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore an expansive grin as he discovered the cause
+of the interruption. But, Professor Zepplin's face reflected no such
+emotion. He was angry. He started to rise, when a second shadow fell
+across the table.
+
+Ned Rector, not to be outdone by his fat little friend, pursed his
+lips tightly, driving his broncho at the dinner table and pressing in
+the spurs so hard, that the pony grunted with anger.
+
+Up went the broncho in a graceful curving leap.
+
+But the pony or its rider had not calculated the distance properly.
+Both rear hoofs went through the table, whisking it off the ground
+from before the astonished eyes of Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle.
+
+Both men drew back so violently that they toppled over backwards.
+
+'Mid the crashing of dishes and the sound of breaking wood, the dinner
+table shot up into the air, while the pony ploughed the ground with
+its nose.
+
+Ned Rector struck the ground some distance farther on; he slid on his
+face for several feet skinning his nose, and filling mouth, eyes and
+nose with dirt.
+
+Then dishes and pieces of table began to rain down on them in a
+perfect shower. A can of condensed milk emptied itself on the head of
+Professor Zepplin, while a hot biscuit lodged inside the collar of
+Santa Claus's shirt.
+
+"Wow! Oh, wow!" howled the fat boy, falling off his pony in the excess
+of his merriment and rolling on the ground.
+
+  CHAPTER XVII
+
+ IN THE HOME OF THE CAVE DWELLERS
+
+Ned Rector sat up just in time to meet the wreck of the descending
+table. Down he went again with Stacy's howls ringing in his ears.
+
+A firm hand jerked Rector free of the debris as Kris Kringle laughing
+heartily hauled Ned to his feet. At the same moment Professor Zepplin
+had laid more violent hands on the fat boy, whom he shook until
+Stacy's howls lost much of their mirth. About this time Tad and Walter
+rode in, having hurried along upon hearing the disturbance in camp.
+
+"Stacy Brown, are you responsible for this?" demanded the Professor
+sternly.
+
+"I'm more to blame than he is," interposed Ned.
+
+"No, I-- I had an idea," chuckled Stacy, threatening to break out into
+another howl of mirth.
+
+"Next time you have one, then, you will be good enough to let me know.
+We will tie you up until the impulse to make trouble has passed."
+
+Tad and Walter could not resist a shout of laughter. Kris Kringle was
+not slow to follow the example set by them, and all at once Professor
+Zepplin forgot his dignity, sitting right down amid the wreck and
+laughing immoderately.
+
+Ned washed his face, and when, upon facing them, he exhibited a peeled
+nose and a black eye, the merriment was renewed again.
+
+Supper was a success, in spite of the fact that many of their dishes
+were utterly ruined, as well as some of the provisions. But the lads
+gathered up the pieces and made the best of a bad job. Fortunately
+they carried another folding table that they had had made for their
+trip, and this was soon spread and a fresh meal prepared.
+
+"Well, have you two been getting into difficulties also?" questioned
+the Professor, after they sat down to supper.
+
+"No; we've been exploring, Walter and I," answered Tad.
+
+"Exploring?"
+
+"Yes. We discovered something that I should like to know more about."
+
+"What is that?" asked Kris Kringle, looking up interestedly.
+
+"We were over yonder, close to the mountains, which are straight up
+and down, and half way to the top, we saw three or four queerly-shaped
+rocks that looked like houses or huts. Did you ever see them, Mr.
+Kringle?"
+
+"No; but I think I know what you mean. They must be some of the cave
+dwellings of the ancient Pueblos, or perhaps as far back as the
+Toltecs. They built their homes in caves on the steep rocks for better
+protection against their enemies."
+
+"And nobody ever discovered these before?" questioned. Walter. "How
+queer!"
+
+"Perhaps these dwellings, if such they are, have been seen by many a
+traveler, none of whom had interest enough in the matter to
+investigate. Then again, they may have been fully explored. There's
+not much in this part of the country that prospectors have not looked
+over."
+
+"May we explore these caves, Professor?" asked Tad.
+
+"Please let us?" urged Walter.
+
+"I see no objection if Mr. Kringle will be responsible for you. I
+rather think I'll look into them myself. I'll confess the idea
+interests me. Are they easy to get at?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," answered Tad.
+
+"Santa Claus will show us the way," interrupted Stacy
+enthusiastically.
+
+He was frowned down by the Professor.
+
+"Why not start now?" urged Tad.
+
+The guide consulted the sun.
+
+"We might. It lacks all of three hours to dark."
+
+There was much enthusiasm in camp. The idea that they were to visit
+some unexplored caves, dwellings of an ancient people, filled the lads
+with pleasant expectancy.
+
+Before starting, Mr. Kringle sorted out some strong manila rope and
+several tent stakes all of which he did up into two bundles. Then he
+filled the magazine of his rifle, throwing this over his shoulder.
+
+"What's that for?" questioned Ned.
+
+"The gun?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Can't tell what we may run into in a cave, you know."
+
+After a final look at the camp all hands set out for the place
+indicated by Tad. It was only a short distance, so they decided to
+walk.
+
+Reaching the base of the mountain they gazed up.
+
+"Yes, those are cave dwellings," declared Kris Kringle. "And they are
+still closed. Probably they haven't been opened in two hundred years."
+
+"I'd hate to live there and have to go home in a dark night," mused
+Chunky.
+
+"Yes, how did they get to their houses?" wondered the other boys.
+
+"The question is, how are we going to get near enough to explore them?
+How shall we get up there, Mr. Guide?" asked the Professor.
+
+"We'll find a way. We shall have to climb the mountain, first."
+
+All hands began clambering up the rocks. To do so they were obliged to
+follow along the base of the mountain for some distance before they
+found a place that they could climb.
+
+Reaching the top, the guide examined their surroundings carefully.
+
+"See those little projections of rock slanting down toward the shelf?"
+he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, in the old days they probably felled a tree so it would fall on
+them. The occupants of the cave probably cut steps in the tree trunk
+over which to travel up and down. The tree has rotted away many years
+since."
+
+"And we can't get down, then?"
+
+"We'll find a way, Master Walter. I thought I should be able to make a
+rope ladder that would work, but I see it is not practicable."
+
+"How shall we do it?"
+
+"Try the old way, I guess, Master Tad."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"The tree."
+
+"But there are no trees near here?"
+
+"Yes, there are, a few rods back. We are all strong and I guess we
+shall be able to make a pretty fair pair of steps."
+
+Kris Kringle had brought an axe with him. With this he cut some long,
+straight poles which, he explained, were intended for pike poles such
+as woodsmen use to roll logs. This done, he began industriously
+chopping at the tree after deciding upon the exact position in which
+he desired it to fall.
+
+"It won't reach," declared Chunky, who, with hands in pockets, legs
+spread wide apart, stood looking up at the flaring top of the great
+tree.
+
+The guide stopped chopping long enough to squint at the fat boy.
+
+"It'll reach you all right, if you stay where you are," he said, then
+resumed his vigorous blows.
+
+Stacy promptly took the hint and moved a safe distance away.
+
+"Get from under!" shouted the guide finally. One more blow would send
+the tree crashing downward.
+
+All hands scrambled for safety. One powerful blow from the axe, and
+with a crashing and rending, the great tree began its descent. When it
+struck the onlookers fully expected to see it broken into many pieces,
+but the bushy top, hitting the rocks first, broke the blow, and the
+body of the tree settled down gently without even breaking its bark.
+
+"Fine! Hurrah!" shouted the boys.
+
+"It won't reach to the edge. Going to pull it over?" questioned Stacy.
+
+"Not exactly, but we're going to get it there. Perhaps we shall not
+have it in place in time to explore the caves to-night, but we shall
+be ready to do so early in the morning. It took our friends longer to
+do this job, two hundred years or more ago, than it will take us. We
+have better tools to work with."
+
+"And better bosses," suggested Stacy.
+
+Some little time was consumed in chopping the tree loose from its
+stump, after which the guide worked the pike poles under the trunk at
+intervals near the base. The others watched these operations with
+interest.
+
+"Now here is where you young gentlemen will have a chance to show how
+strong you are. Each one grab a pike pole," Kringle directed.
+
+"Shan't I go hold the top down?" asked Stacy.
+
+"You just grab a pike pole and get busy!" laughed Mr. Kringle.
+
+"Can't get out of work quite so easy as you thought," scoffed Ned.
+"This is where we make you earn your supper."
+
+"I don't have to earn it. Had it already."
+
+"There are other meals coming," smiled the Professor.
+
+"Now, heo-- he!"
+
+All raised on the pike poles at the same time with the result that the
+tree was forced down the gentle incline several feet. This was
+repeated again and again, the boys pausing to cheer after every lift.
+
+The tree being now perilously near the edge of the cliff Kris Kringle
+called a halt. Next he fastened a rope around the top and another
+around the base, taking a turn around a rock with each. One boy was
+placed on each rope, the others at the pike poles, while the guide
+stood at the edge giving directions.
+
+The tree trunk gently slipped over under his guidance and a few
+minutes later rested on the projecting rocks, that were just high
+enough to hold it in place.
+
+"Wouldn't take much to send it over, but I guess it will be perfectly
+safe," he mused.
+
+"May we go down now?" cried the boys.
+
+"No; I'll make some steps first."
+
+He did so with the axe, chopping out scoop-shaped places for steps,
+until finally he had reached the rock in front of the cave dwellings.
+
+The tree lay at an easy slope, its bushy top partly resting on the
+ledge, the latter being some eight feet deep by ten feet wide.
+
+Running up the log Mr. Kringle made another rope fast at the top,
+throwing the free end over.
+
+"Hold on to the rope while you are going down and you'll be in no
+danger of falling," he warned.
+
+The boys scrambled down the tree like so many squirrels, the Professor
+following somewhat more cautiously.
+
+The explorers found themselves not more than twenty feet from the
+ground.
+
+"Not much of a door yard. Where's the garden?" wondered Stacy, looking
+about him curiously.
+
+The entrance to the cave dwelling was blocked by a huge boulder, that
+completely filled the opening. How it had been gotten there none could
+say. The only possible explanation was that the boulder had been found
+on the shelf and applied to the purpose of protecting the cave
+dwellers' home.
+
+"Now we're here, we can't get in," grumbled Ned.
+
+"Nothing is impossible," answered Kris Kringle.
+
+"Except one thing."
+
+"What's that, Master Ned?"
+
+"To hammer the least little bit of sense into the head of my friend,
+Chunky Brown."
+
+"You don't have to, that's why," retorted Stacy quickly. "It has all
+the sense it'll hold, now."
+
+"I guess that will be about all for you, Ned," laughed Walter. "At
+least, Chunky didn't foul the dinner table when he jumped it."
+
+The guide, in the meantime, was experimenting with the boulder,
+inserting a pike pole here and there in an effort to move the big
+stone. It remained in place as solidly as if it had grown there.
+
+"There's some trick about the thing, I know, but what it is gets me.
+Better stand back, all of you, in case it comes out all of a sudden,"
+Mr. Kringle warned them.
+
+All at once the boulder did come out, and it kept on coming.
+
+"Look out!" bellowed the guide.
+
+"Low bridge!" howled Stacy, hopping to one side and crouching against
+the rocks.
+
+The guide had sprung nimbly to one side as well. The big rock had
+popped out like a pea from a pod. Instead of stopping, however, it
+continued to roll on toward the edge.
+
+"Hug the rocks! She's going down!" shouted the guide.
+
+Go down it did, with a crash that seemed to shake the mountain.
+Rolling to the edge of the shelf, it had toppled over, taking a large
+strip of shelving rock with it.
+
+"Wow!" howled Chunky;
+
+The other boys uttered no sound, though their faces were a little more
+pale than usual.
+
+Kris Kringle stepped to the edge, peering over.
+
+"No one will get that up here again, right away," he said.
+
+"The cave, the cave!" shouted Walter.
+
+Everyone turned, gazing half in awe at the dark opening that the
+removal of the stone had revealed-- an opening that had been closed
+for probably more than two centuries.
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII
+
+ FACING THE ENEMY'S GUNS
+
+"Do we go in?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Wait, I'll get some light inside first," answered the prudent guide.
+"Can't tell whether we shall want to go in or not."
+
+He built up a small fire within, then called to the others that they
+might enter. They crowded in hastily, finding themselves in a fairly
+large chamber, at the far end of which was a sort of natural alcove in
+the rocks.
+
+The remnants of a fire still lay at one side, where the last meal of
+the ancient dweller had probably been cooked. Several crude looking
+utensils lay about, together with a number of pieces of ancient
+pottery.
+
+"This is, indeed, a rare find!" exclaimed the Professor, carrying the
+precious jars out into the light for closer examination.
+
+Chunky, about that time, pounced upon an object which proved to be a
+copper hatchet.
+
+"Hurray for George Washington!" he shouted, brandishing the crude
+tool. "The man who never told--"
+
+"We've heard that before," objected Ned. "Give us something new,
+Chunky, if you've got to talk."
+
+The Professor came in, searching for other curios just as Stacy went
+out to examine his "little axe," as he was pleased to call it. He
+tried the edge of it on the ledge to find out if the stone would dull
+it, but it did not.
+
+"I'll use that to cut nails and wire with when I get back home,"
+decided the boy. "Guess I'll chop my name in the side of the mountain
+here." Stacy proceeded to do so, the others being too much engrossed
+in their explorations to know or care what he was about. He succeeded
+very well, both in making letters on the wall and in putting several
+nicks in the edge of his new-found hatchet.
+
+He was thus engaged when all at once something struck the axe hurling
+it from his hand. At the same instant a rifle crashed off somewhere
+below and to the southeast of him.
+
+"Ouch!" exclaimed the fat boy holding his hand. "Wonder who did that?"
+His mind had not coupled the shot with the blow on the hatchet.
+
+Bang!
+
+A bullet flattened itself close to his head, against the rock.
+
+With a howl, the lad threw himself down on the ledge.
+
+At that instant Kris Kringle sprang to the opening of the cave.
+
+"What does this mean?" he snapped.
+
+"I don't know. Somebody knocked the axe out of my hand then shot at
+me."
+
+The guide discovered the trouble right there. A bullet snipped his hat
+from his head; and, striking the ceiling of the cave-home, dropped to
+the floor with a dull clatter.
+
+Kris Kringle ducked with amazing quickness. Crawling back into the
+cave, he reached for his own rifle and then sought the opening, taking
+good care not to expose himself to the fire of the unseen enemy.
+
+Stacy, on his part, had lost no time in getting to a place of safety
+inside, though he was prudent enough to crawl instead of getting up
+and walking in."
+
+"What does this mean? It can't be possible that anyone is deliberately
+shooting at us?" questioned Professor Zepplin in undisguised
+amazement.
+
+"If you doubt it step outside," suggested Kris Kringle. "Master Stacy
+and myself know what they tried to do, don't we, lad?"
+
+"We do."
+
+The fat boy again swelled with importance.
+
+"Look out you don't swell up so big you'll break your harness," warned
+Ned.
+
+"Better break it than have it shot off," mumbled Stacy.
+
+"Who can it be?"
+
+"I can't say, Professor."
+
+"It's our friends from the fire dance," was Tad's expressed
+conviction.
+
+"Told you they'd be here," nodded Chunky. "Why don't you shoot at
+them?"
+
+"Going to, in a minute. Got to find out where they are first."
+
+Now the lads were excited in earnest. Some one was shooting at them,
+and the guide was going to fire back. This was more than they had
+expected when they visited the home of the cave-dweller.
+
+"Let me take a crack at 'em," begged Chunky. "I owe 'em one."
+
+"Master Stacy, you will do nothing of the sort," reproved the
+Professor sternly. "The idea!"
+
+"No; if there's any shooting to be done I'll do it," announced Kris
+Kringle.
+
+"And Santa Claus isn't shooting with any toy gun, this time," chuckled
+Chunky.
+
+"Can you see the camp, to know if anyone is there?"
+
+"Yes, but only part of it, Professor. I wish you would all get over
+into the right hand corner there and lie flat on the floor. I'm going
+to try to draw their fire so that I can locate them. Can't afford to
+waste ammunition until we are reasonably sure where our mark is."
+
+The others quickly got into the position indicated.
+
+Placing his hat on one of the pike poles, Kringle slowly pushed it
+outside.
+
+There was no result, The ruse failed to draw the enemy's fire.
+
+"Oh, they've gone. We're a lot of babies," jeered Ned, jumping up and
+starting for the opening.
+
+Kris Kringle gave him a push with the butt of the rifle.
+
+"Want, to get shot full of holes? Wait! I'll show you."
+
+The guide sprang up, showing himself out on the ledge for one brief
+instant then throwing himself flat.
+
+A sharp "ping" against the rocks, followed by a heavy report, told the
+story. The guide had been not a second too soon in getting out of
+harm's way, for the bullet would have gone right through him had be
+remained standing.
+
+Quick as a flash Kringle's rifle leaped to his shoulder, and he fired.
+He had taken quick aim at a puff of smoke off toward the camp.
+
+Not content with one shot he raked the bushes all about where the puff
+of smoke had been seen, emptying the magazine of the rifle in a few
+seconds.
+
+Stacy Brown was fairly dancing with glee.
+
+"Did you hit anything?" asked the boys breathlessly.
+
+"Of course, I hit something; but whether I winged an Indian or not, I
+don't know. If I did, he probably is not seriously wounded. You'll
+hear a redskin yell when he's hit bad."
+
+"That one I punched didn't. He was hit hard," volunteered Stacy.
+
+"He didn't have time," grinned Tad. "You were too quick for him."
+
+"Look out! There comes a volley!" warned Mr. Kringle.
+
+The boys, led by the Professor tumbled into the corner in a heap,
+while the lead pattered in through the opening, rattling with great
+force like a handful of pebbles.
+
+"They're getting in a hurry," averred the Professor.
+
+"It's growing dark. They want to finish us before then, so we can't
+play any tricks on them after that. But, if they only knew it, and
+they probably do, they've got us beautifully trapped. One man below
+and another at the other end of our tree would be able to keep us here
+till the springs run dry. If there's only two of them there, as I
+suspect is the case, they may not want to separate. We'll see, the
+minute it gets dark enough so that we can move about without being
+observed."
+
+Some of the sage brush that Kris Kringle had brought down to light up
+the cave lay outside on the ledge. Using one of the poles, he
+cautiously raked the stuff inside, heaping it up not far from the
+entrance.
+
+"What you doing that for?" questioned Stacy, unable to conceal his
+curiosity.
+
+"You'll see, by-and-by, when we get ready to do something else. You
+don't think I'm going to stay here all night, do you?"
+
+There was no further firing on either side, though Mr. Kringle showed
+himself boldly several times.
+
+Finally Tad tried it, and was greeted with a shot the instant he
+appeared in the opening.
+
+"Must be me they're after," he suggested, with a forced grin, falling
+flat on the ledge, and wriggling back into the cave.
+
+The twilight was upon them now. The guide had been able to see the
+flash of the rifle below him, and had taken a quick shot at it when
+the enemy attempted to wing Tad Butler. Kringle had no means of
+knowing whether his shot had been effective or not.
+
+"I'm going to try something else in a few minutes, now," the guide
+told the Professor and the boys, "and I hope you all will do just as I
+tell you."
+
+"You may depend upon our doing exactly that," answered the Professor.
+
+"I am going to crawl out of here. The rest of you remain here until I
+call to you to come out, no matter if it is until morning. After I
+have been gone about ten minutes, light a match and toss it into the
+heap of sage there, but watch out that you don't get into the light.
+Throw the match. You're liable to be shot if you show yourselves."
+
+"Why should we make a fire and thus make targets of ourselves?"
+protested Ned.
+
+"That is to cover Mr. Kringle's retreat," Tad informed them.
+
+"Exactly. Master Tad, you may come along with me if you wish."
+
+Tad jumped at the offer.
+
+"But not a sound. Ask me no questions. Follow a rod or so behind me,
+and walk low down all the time. If you make a mistake it may result
+seriously for you and your friends. And, another thing."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Should there be any shooting, throw yourself on the ground. You will
+not be as likely to be hit there."
+
+"I'll obey orders, sir."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"When do we start?"
+
+"I guess we can do so now, as safely as at any time. The rascals will
+not be likely to be on the mountain just yet, because it is not dark
+enough. Yes; we'll go now."
+
+Tad waited until Kris Kringle had crawled from the cave, then lay down
+on his stomach and wriggled out on the ledge.
+
+There were no signs of the enemy and the camp-fire of the Pony Rider
+Boys glowed dimly down below. Tad, peering off into the gloom, for the
+moon had not yet risen, thought he saw a figure flit by the fire. He
+could not be sure, however. He wished he might tell the guide of his
+fancied discovery; but, remembering the injunction for absolute
+silence, he said nothing.
+
+By this time, Tad's arms were about the log. From the slight vibration
+he knew that Kris Kringle was somewhere between himself and the top,
+yet not a sound did the guide make. Tad made no more, and they would
+have been keen ears, indeed, that could have detected our friends'
+presence by sound alone.
+
+When the lad finally reached the top a hand was laid on his shoulder.
+The touch gave him a violent start in spite of his steady nerves.
+
+"You're all right," whispered the voice of Kris Kringle. "You'd make a
+good Indian. I want to explain something that I didn't wish the others
+to hear."
+
+"Yes?" whispered Tad.
+
+"I have only one shell left in my rifle. That's why I wanted you to go
+along. If, by any chance, the rascals should get me, you lie low.
+They'll make for the cave, as they know, by this time, that there is
+only one rifle in the party. The minute they do, should such an
+emergency arise, slide for the camp and get your gun. You'll know what
+to do with it. It'll be a case of saving the lives of your companions
+if it comes to that."
+
+"I understand," answered Tad bravely; and without a quaver in his
+voice.
+
+"Mind you, I don't think for a minute that it will happen. I can
+handle these fellows if I get the lay of the land. Keep close enough
+to hear me."
+
+"That's not so easy."
+
+"No; but you'll know. When I stop you do the same."
+
+  CHAPTER XIX
+
+ OUTWITTING THE REDSKINS
+
+Kris Kringle moved away without another word. His abrupt departure was
+the signal for the Pony Rider boy to start, which he did instantly.
+
+In a few minutes Tad was skulking along the top of the mountain, when
+he ran into the guide again.
+
+Just then the report of a rifle sounded down below them.
+
+"Are they shooting at us?" whispered Tad.
+
+"No; the boys have lighted the fire in the cave. Our friends down
+below took a pot shot at the blaze. Hope they didn't hit anybody."
+
+"Chunky would be the only one to get in the way, and I imagine the
+others would hold him back."
+
+"Come this way; we'll go down by a different trail. The redskins are
+watching the fire in the cave, but they may be keeping an eye on the
+trail at the same time."
+
+Silently the man and the boy took their way along the rough, uneven
+path, slowly working down into the valley. They soon reached this, for
+the range was low there.
+
+Reaching the foothills, the two scouts once more fell into single
+file, Tad Butler to the rear. He knew that the guide's rifle ahead of
+him was ready for instant use, and at any second now Tad expected to
+see the flash of a gun.
+
+The lad was not afraid, but he was all a-quiver with excitement. This
+stalking an enemy in the dark, not knowing at what minute that enemy
+might make the attack, was not the same as a stand-up fight in broad
+daylight. Tad wondered why the guide had not permitted the rest of the
+party to escape while they had the opportunity. He did not know that
+Kris Kringle fully expected an ambush, nor that two would stand a
+better chance to get through and out-wit the savages than would half a
+dozen of them. The pair had approached nearly to the camp, for which
+the guide was heading, when suddenly a hand was laid on the boy's arm
+in a firm grip. Tad knew the guide had seen or heard something.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"There!"
+
+In the faint light of the camp-fire the lad, gazing where Kris Kringle
+had pointed, was astonished to see a figure seated at their table.
+From his motions it was evident that the intruder was stowing away the
+stolen fool at a great rate.
+
+"Is that one of them?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He'll have indigestion, the way he's eating. Hope he doesn't swallow
+the dishes, too."
+
+"I'm going to find the other one. You crawl as close to the camp as
+you can with safety. If you hear a disturbance, dive for the tents the
+instant that fellow starts. He'll move if he hears any noise. Get a
+gun and hurry to me, but be quiet about it."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Remember your instructions. I may be able to handle both of them, but
+if I don't get the missing one at the first crack I shan't be able to
+take care of them both. You'll have to help me. Got the nerve?"
+
+"I'm not afraid," whispered the boy steadily. "And I've got some
+muscle as well."
+
+"That's evident. I'm off now."
+
+Tad was left alone. This time he could feel the guide's movements, as
+the latter slipped away on the soft earth. But in a moment all sound
+was lost,
+
+"I think I'll crawl up nearer, so as to be handy if anything occurs,"
+decided the lad, creeping along on all fours. He could not see the
+light in the camp now, but he reasoned that the man at the table was
+sitting with his back to it, as near as Tad could judge of direction
+in the dark. The Indian seemed not to fear a surprise.
+
+"That's what comes from overconfidence," grinned the lad.
+
+"I wish I had something to defend myself with," he added after a
+pause.
+
+Tad had no sooner expressed his wish, than his fingers closed over
+some object on the ground. He grasped it with about the same
+hopefulness that a dying man will grasp at a straw.
+
+What he had found was a heavy tent stake, one that Kris Kringle had
+dropped from his bundle on the way to the cliff dweller's home.
+
+The lad breathed a prayer of thankfulness and crept on with renewed
+courage.
+
+He proceeded as far as he dared; then, lay still, listening for the
+noise of the expected conflict between the guide and the other red
+man.
+
+It came. The sound was like that of a body falling heavily.
+
+Once more the Indian at the table turned his head, listening
+inquiringly. He made a half motion to rise, glanced at the table, then
+sat down again and began to eat.
+
+"His appetite has overcome his judgment," grinned Tad. The lad could
+hear the faint sound of conflict somewhere to the rear of him. He was
+getting uneasy and began to fidget.
+
+All at once the red man sprang up, starting on a run, trailing Stacy's
+rifle behind him. He was headed directly for the place where Tad lay
+flattened on the ground, though the lad felt sure his enemy did not
+see him.
+
+But when the Indian suddenly sprang up into the air to avoid stepping
+on the object that lay there, Tad knew that further secrecy was
+useless. The redskin had jumped right over him, dropping Chunky's
+rifle as he leaped. The gun fell on the Pony Rider boy and for a
+second hindered his movements.
+
+But Tad was up like a flash, while the Indian whirled no less quickly,
+knife unsheathed, ready for battle.
+
+This was where Tad's tent stake came in handy. Without it he would
+have been in a much more serious fix. It was bad enough as it was.
+
+Without an instant's hesitation the lad brought the stake down on the
+wrist of the hand that held the knife. The knife fell to the ground,
+while the Indian, with a half-suppressed howl, sprang at the slender
+lad. Though the fellow's wrist was well-nigh useless at that moment,
+he was as full of fight as ever.
+
+Tad stepped nimbly aside and tried to trip his adversary, but the
+Indian was too sharp to be caught that way.
+
+"If he ever gets those arms around me I'm a goner," thought Tad,
+taking mental measure of his antagonist.
+
+Suddenly the Indian swooped down, making a grab for the rifle that he
+had dropped.
+
+As the redskin stooped, Tad hit him a wallop on the head with the tent
+stake. It must have made the savage see a shower of stars.
+
+At least, it staggered him so he was glad to let the weapon remain
+where it was. For a few seconds the air was full of flying legs and
+arms, during which the boy landed three times on the red man, being
+himself unhurt.
+
+Then the Indian succeeded in rushing into a clinch, and Tad found
+himself gripped in those arms of steel. Wriggle and twist as be would
+he could not free himself from their embrace. His adversary, on the
+other hand, found himself fully occupied in holding on to his slippery
+young antagonist, giving him neither time nor opportunity effectually
+to dispose of the slender lad.
+
+Tad was unusually muscular for his years, to which was added no little
+skill as wrestler. The Indian soon discovered both these qualities.
+And, at about that time, the lad was resorting to every trick he knew
+to place the Indian in a position where he could be thrown.
+
+The moment came with disconcerting suddenness, and Mr. Redman uttered
+a loud grunt as he landed on the ground, flat on his back. With a
+spring he lifted himself up, and the next instant he had thrown the
+slight figure of the Pony Rider Boy so heavily that everything about
+Tad grew black. He felt himself going. Then all at once he lost
+consciousness.
+
+When finally he awakened, Tad found a figure still bending over him.
+
+Quick as a flash the boy's arms went up, encircling the neck of the
+man kneeling by him. The next instant the fellow was on his back, with
+Tad sitting on his chest.
+
+"Here, here! What's the matter with you?" gasped a muffled voice,
+which Tad instantly recognized.
+
+"Kris Kringle!" he gasped.
+
+"Yes; and you nearly knocked the breath out of me," grinned the guide,
+struggling to his feet. "Well, you certainly are a whirlwind."
+
+"I-- I thought you were the Indian," mattered Tad in a sheepish tone.
+
+"If it had been, there would have been no need for my interference."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Over there, tied up. Both of them are. We'll decide what to do with
+them when we get the party together."
+
+"Tell me what happened," begged Tad.
+
+The other fellow was so busy watching the cave that he forgot to keep
+his ears open. I was able to approach him without being detected. When
+I got near enough I laid the butt of my rifle over his head. No, I
+didn't hurt him much. Just made him curl up on the ground long enough
+to enable me to tie his hands and feet.
+
+"About that time I caught the sound of something going on over here. I
+made a run, suspecting that you were mixing it up with the other
+redskin. Guess I was just in time, too, for he had you down and was
+reaching for something--"
+
+"His knife," nodded Tad. "It's somewhere around here now."
+
+"Well, I gave him the same medicine that I had given the other. Now
+we'd better go and call the others."
+
+"Thank you. I'd have been in a bad fix, if you hadn't come as you
+did."
+
+"So might I, had you not stopped the second one. We're quits then,"
+said the guide, extending his hand, which Tad grasped warmly.
+
+"I'll call the others, if you wish."
+
+"Yes."
+
+Tad ran over to the base of the cliff, and shouted loudly for his
+companions. In half an hour the party had gathered about the camp
+fire, engaged in an animated discussion over the stirring experiences
+of the evening.
+
+It was decided that the Indians should be placed on their ponies, to
+which they were to be tied, with hands free and provisions enough to
+last them until they reached their reservation in the northern part of
+the state;
+
+The guide restored their rifles to them after first taking their
+ammunition and transferring it to his own kit.
+
+"I've wasted nearly that much on you," he said. "And, if ever you ride
+across my trail again, I'll use your own lead on you in a way that
+will stop you. You won't need bullets like these in the Happy Hunting
+Grounds, where you'll be going. Now, git!"
+
+And they did. The redskins rode as if a ghost were pursuing them.
+
+"That's the last, we shall see of those gentlemen," laughed Kris
+Kringle. "To-morrow morning we shall be on our way in peace."
+
+But the trail of the Pony Rider Boys was not to be all peace. Before
+them-- ere they reached the end of the Silver Trail-- they were to
+find other thrilling experiences awaiting them.
+
+  CHAPTER XX
+
+ TILTING FOR THE SILVER SPURS
+
+Their journey led the young horsemen across the plains, over low-lying
+ranges, across broad, barren table-lands and down through the bottom
+lands until the wide sweep of the Rio Grande River at last lay before
+them.
+
+After the weeks of arid landscape the sight of water, and so much of
+it, brought a loud cheer from the Pony Rider Boys. The next thing was
+to find a fording place. This they did late in the afternoon of the
+same day, and their further journey took them to the little desert
+town of Puraje.
+
+They camped on the outskirts of the village.
+
+"Here's where we get a real bath. Who's going in swimming with me?"
+asked Tad.
+
+"I am," shouted all the boys at once.
+
+The Professor and Kris Kringle concluded that they, too, would take a
+dip, and a merry hour was spent in a protected cove of the big river,
+where the boys proved themselves as much at home as they were in the
+saddle.
+
+In the evening, they purchased such supplies as the town afforded. The
+night passed with-out disturbance, the boys taking up their journey
+next morning before the sleepy town had awakened.
+
+It was a week later, when, tired and dusty, the outfit pulled up at La
+Luz, a quaint hamlet nestling in the foothills of the Sacramento
+Mountains. The place they found to be largely Mexican, and it was
+almost as if the visitors had slipped over the border to find
+themselves in Mexico itself.
+
+Decorations were in evidence on all sides; bright-colored mantillas,
+Indian blankets and flags were everywhere.
+
+"Hello, I guess something is going on here," laughed Tad.
+
+"We are in time, whatever it is," nodded the guide. "Probably it's a
+feast of some kind. You will be interested in it, if that is what it
+is.
+
+The feast, they learned, was to be celebrated on the morrow with
+games, feats of strength and horsemanship.
+
+"Do you think they will let us take part?" asked Tad, as the party
+made camp in the yard of a little adobe church, where they had
+obtained permission to camp.
+
+"I'll see about it," answered the guide. "There may be reasons why it
+would not be best to do so."
+
+"Maybe I can win another rifle," suggested Chunky.
+
+"These people don't give away rifles. They're too-- too-- what do you
+call it?-- too artistic. That's it."
+
+The camp being on the main street of the village, attracted no little
+attention. After sundown, crowds of gayly bedecked young people
+strolled up and stood about the church yard, watching the American
+boys pitching their tents and preparing for their stay over night.
+
+The villagers were especially interested in watching the boys get
+their supper, which was served up steaming hot within fifteen minutes
+after preparations had begun. Chunky had bought several pies at the
+store, which, with a pound of cheese brought in by Ned, made a
+pleasant change in the daily routine.
+
+Chunky started in on the pie.
+
+Ned calmly reached over and took it away from him; then the supper
+went along until it came time for the dessert, when Chunky fixed his
+eyes on the cheese suspiciously.
+
+"See anything wrong with that cheese?" demanded Ned.
+
+"No, but I've got an idea."
+
+"Out with it! You won't rest easy until you do. What's your idea?"
+
+"I was thinking, if I had a camera, I could make a motion picture of
+that cheese. I heard of a fellow once--"
+
+"That will do, Master Stacy," warned Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Can't I talk?"
+
+"Along proper lines-- yes."
+
+"Cheese is proper, isn't it?"
+
+"Depends upon how old it is," chuckled Tad.
+
+"You needn't make fun of my cheese. Here give it to me; I'll eat it."
+
+"You're welcome to it, Ned," laughed the boys.
+
+The fun went on, much to the amusement of the villagers, who remained
+near by until the evening was well along and the lads began preparing
+for bed. Next morning the visitors began coming in to town early.
+There were men from the ranches, Mexican ranch-hands arrayed in bright
+colors and displaying expensive saddle trimmings. There were others
+from the wild places on the desert, far beyond the water limits, whose
+means of livelihood were known only to themselves.
+
+It was a strange company, and one that appealed considerably to the
+curiosity of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+The early part of the day was given over to racing, roping, gambling
+and other sports in which the lads were content to take no part. But
+there was an event scheduled for the afternoon that interested Tad
+more than all the rest. That was a tilting bout, open to all comers. A
+tilting arch had been erected in the middle of the main street, and
+had been decorated with flags and greens.
+
+The tilting ring, suspended from the top of the arch, was not more
+than an inch in diameter. The horseman who could impale it on his
+tilting peg and carry the ring away with him the greatest, number of
+times, would be declared the winner. Each one was to be given five
+chances.
+
+The prize, a pair of silver spurs, was to be presented by the belle of
+the town, a dark-eyed seņorita.
+
+The guide had entered Tad in this contest; but, as the lad glanced up
+at the ring only an inch in diameter, he grew rather dubious. He never
+had seen any tilting, and did not even know how the sport was
+conducted.
+
+Kris Kringle gave the lad some instructions about the method employed
+by the tilters, and Tad decided to enter the contest.
+
+Only ten horsemen entered, most of these being either Mexicans or
+halfbreeds.
+
+The first trial over, five of the contestants had succeeded in
+carrying away the ring.
+
+Tad had waited until nearly the last in order to get all the
+information possible as to the way the rest of the contestants played
+the game. A pole had been loaned to him, or rather a "peg," they
+called it, eight feet long, tapered so as to allow it to go through
+the brass ring for fully two feet of its length.
+
+The Pony Rider boy took his place in the middle of the street, and
+without the least hesitancy, galloped down toward the ring, which,
+indeed, he could not even see. When within a few feet of the arch he
+caught the sparkle of the ring.
+
+His lance came up, and putting spurs to his broncho, he shot under the
+arch, driving the point of the peg full at the slender circle. The
+point struck the edge sending the ring swaying like the pendulum of a
+clock.
+
+A howl greeted his achievement. Tad said nothing, but riding slowly
+back, awaited his next trial.
+
+The rule was that when one of the contestants made a strike, he was to
+continue until he failed. He would be allowed to run out five points
+in succession if he could.
+
+"Rest the peg against your side, and lightly," advised a man, as Tad
+turned into the street for another try. The man was past middle age,
+and, though dressed in the garb of a man of the plains, Tad decided at
+once that he was not of the same type as most of the motley mob by
+which he was surrounded.
+
+The lad nodded his understanding.
+
+With a sharp little cry of warning, the boy put spurs to his pony. He
+fairly flew down the course. No such speed had been seen there that
+day. The northern bronchos that the boys were riding were built for
+faster work and possessed more spirit than their brothers of the
+desert.
+
+As he neared the arch, this time, the lad half rose in his stirrups.
+He knew where to look for the ring now. Leaning slightly forward he
+let the point of the peg tilt ever so little. It went through the
+ring, tearing it from its slender fastening and carrying it away.
+
+Loud shouts of approval greeted his achievement.
+
+Once more he raced down the lane, this time at so fast a clip that the
+faces of the spectators who lined the course were a mere blur in his
+eyes.
+
+He felt the slight jar and heard the click as the ring slipped over
+the tilting peg.
+
+"Two," announced the scorer.
+
+He missed the next one. Then the others took their turn. Only one of
+these succeeded in scoring. He was one of the Mexicans who made such a
+brave show of color in raiment and saddle cloth.
+
+"That gives the seņor and the boy three apiece. Each has one turn
+left. The others will fall out. If neither scores in his turn, both
+will be ruled out and the others will compete for the prize,"
+announced the scorer.
+
+The Mexican smiled a supercilious smile, as much as to say, "The idea
+of a long-legged, freckle-faced boy defeating me!" The Mexican was an
+expert at the game of tilting as it was practised on the desert.
+
+The man took the first turn. He sat quietly on his pony a moment
+before starting, placing the lance at just the proper angle-- then
+galloped at the mark. He, too, rose in his stirrups. The spectators
+were silent.
+
+The ring just missed being impaled on the tilting peg, slipping along
+the pole half way then bounding up into the air.
+
+The spectators groaned. The Mexican had lost.
+
+Now it was Tad's turn.
+
+He rode as if it were an everyday occurrence with him to tilt, only he
+went at it with a rash that fairly took their breath away.
+
+Just as he was about to drive at the ring, some one uttered a wild
+yell and a sombrero hurled from the crowd, struck Tad fairly across
+the eyes.
+
+Of course he lost, and, for a moment, he could not see a thing. He
+pulled his pony to a quick stop and sat rubbing and blinking his
+smarting eyes.
+
+A howl of disapproval went up from the spectators. None seemed to know
+whether the act had been inspired by enthusiasm or malice. Tad was
+convinced that it was the latter. His face was flushed, but the lad
+made no comment.
+
+"You are entitled to another tilt," called the scorer.
+
+To this the Mexican objected loudly.
+
+"Under the circumstances, as my opponent objects, and as we all wish
+to prevent hard feelings, why not give him a chance as well? If he
+wins I shall be satisfied."
+
+A shout of approval greeted Tad's suggestion. This was the real
+sportsman-like spirit, and it appealed to them.
+
+The proposition was agreed to. But again the Mexican lost.
+
+"If the young man is interfered with this time, I shall award the
+prize to him and end the tournament," warned the scorer.
+
+Though Tad's eyes were smarting from the blow of the sombrero, he
+allowed the eyelids to droop well over them, thus protecting them from
+the dust and at the same time giving him a clearer vision.
+
+On his next turn, Tad tore down the narrow lane; he shot between the
+posts like an arrow, and the tilting peg was driven far into the
+narrow hoop, wedging the ring on so firmly that it afterwards required
+force to loosen and remove it.
+
+Without halting his pony, Tad rode on, out a circle and came back at a
+lively gallop, pulling up before the stand of dry goods boxes, where
+the young woman who was to award the prize stood swinging her
+handkerchief, while the spectators set up a deafening roar of
+applause.
+
+Tad was holding the tilting peg aloft, displaying the ring wedged on
+it. He made the young woman a sweeping bow, his sombrero almost
+touching the ground as he did so.
+
+Another shout went up when the handsome spurs were handed to him,
+which the enthusiastic young woman first wrapped in her own
+handkerchief before passing the prize over to him. And amid the din,
+Tad heard the familiar "Oh, Wow! Wow!" in the shrill voice of Stacy
+Brown.
+
+  CHAPTER XXI
+
+ THE FAT BOY'S DISCOVERY
+
+"I saw him! I saw him, Tad!"
+
+"Saw who, Chunky?"
+
+"I tell you, I did. Don't you s'pose I know what my eyes tell me in
+confidence. Don't you to go to contradicting to me."
+
+Stacy had fairly overwhelmed Tad Butler with the importance of his
+discovery; but, thus far, Tad had not the least idea what it was all
+about.
+
+"When you get quieted down perhaps you'll be good enough to tell me
+who it is you saw?"
+
+"The man, the man!"
+
+"Humph! That's about as clear as the water in an alkali sink. What
+man?"
+
+"The one we saw on the train. Don't you know?"
+
+Tad thought a moment.
+
+"You mean the one we heard talking just before we got to Bluewater?"
+Butler had entirely forgotten the incident.
+
+"Yes; that's him! That's him," exploded Stacy.
+
+"You say that fellow-- Lasar, that's his name-- is he here!"
+
+"Uh-huh."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"He got off the stage down by the postoffice, just when I was coming
+up here."
+
+"Was he alone?"
+
+"The other fellow wasn't with him, if that's what you mean?"
+
+"Yes." Tad went over in his mind the conversation the man Lasar had
+held with his companion, in which the pair were plotting against some
+one by the name of Marquand.
+
+"Oh, well, Chunky, it's none of our concern. I think we must have
+magnified the incident. I--"
+
+"He'll bear watching, Tad. He will and it's muh-- muh-- you understand
+who's going to do it," declared Chunky, swelling out his chest and
+tapping it with his right fist.
+
+"All right, go ahead," laughed Tad. "It's time some of us get into
+more trouble. The Professor will begin to think we've got a fever, or
+something, if we let two days in succession pass without stirring up
+something."
+
+"I've got an idea," exploded Stacy.
+
+"There you go. It's coming now."
+
+"I'll go tell the policeman."
+
+"Why, you ninny, there are no policemen here. Perhaps there is a
+sheriff. Hello, here comes the gentleman who gave me the advice that
+helped me to win those handsome spurs. He's introducing himself to the
+Professor and Mr. Kringle. Let's go over."
+
+Forgetting for the moment the subject they were discussing, Tad and
+Stacy strolled over to the camp-fire.
+
+"O Tad, this is Mr. Marquand, Mr. James Marquand from Albuquerque. He
+wants to know you. And this is another one of our Pony Rider Boys,
+Master Stacy Brown," said the Professor, presenting his boys.
+
+"Marquand!" exclaimed both boys under their breaths.
+
+"I am glad to know you, Master Butler. That was a very fine piece of
+work you did this afternoon. You've steady nerves."
+
+"If there's any credit due it is to you. Your suggestion helped me to
+win the prize. Without it I should have failed," answered Tad
+generously.
+
+"Which way are you headed?" asked Mr. Marquand.
+
+"Guadalupes," answered the guide. "The boys want to explore some of
+the old pueblos."
+
+"And I also," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I understand there is much
+of interest in them."
+
+"I should say so," muttered their guest.
+
+"I'd like a few moments to speak with you in private, if you can spare
+the time," said Tad in a low voice, at the first opportunity.
+
+"At your service now, sir."
+
+"No; not here."
+
+"Then come to my room at the hotel. I'll fix it with the others," said
+Mr. Marquand, observing at once that the lad had some serious purpose
+in mind.
+
+"My friend Chunky will go with me, if agreeable to you?"
+
+"That's all right. Professor, if you have no objection I should like
+to have these two young men go to my quarters with me for a little
+while. I--"
+
+"Certainly. Don't stay out too late, boys."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Wonder what they've got up their sleeves?" muttered Ned, watching the
+receding figures of his two companions and Mr. Marquand.
+
+"You may talk," smiled the latter after they were well started.
+
+"I'd rather not until we are where we shall not be overheard,"
+answered Tad promptly.
+
+All three fell silent. The boys followed their host to his room,
+apparently without having been observed. The little village was too
+full of its own pleasures to notice.
+
+"Be seated, boys. I take for granted that neither of you smoke?"
+
+"Oh no, sir."
+
+"Now, what can I do for you? I am sure you have something of
+importance to yourselves on your minds."
+
+"Not to us specially. Perhaps to you, though," replied Tad.
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"We may be foolish. If so, you will understand that we have no motive
+beyond a desire to serve you."
+
+"That goes without saying."
+
+"Do you know a man by the name of Lasar-- Bob Lasar, Mr. Marquand?"
+
+Mr. Marquand started, eyeing both lads questioningly.
+
+"Yes; he is associated with me in a business venture."
+
+"Told you so," interjected Stacy.
+
+"What of him?"
+
+Tad wished he was well out of it all. To be obliged to tell all he
+knew of Bob Lasar, and to the latter's partner, was rather a
+troublesome undertaking.
+
+Plucking up courage, Tad briefly related all that he and his companion
+had overheard on the train as they were approaching Bluewater to all
+of which their host listened with grave attention and increasing
+interest.
+
+"The incident probably would not have come back to me again but for
+certain things that happened to-day," Tad continued.
+
+"Would either of you know Lasar were you to see him again, do you
+think?"
+
+"My friend Chunky Brown saw him here to-day."
+
+"Saw him get out of the stage in front of this very hotel," nodded
+Stacy.
+
+"You are right. He is here. Mr. Lasar had stopped off at a near-by
+town on a personal matter. Can you describe the man whom you saw with
+him on the train?"
+
+"As I remember him, he was slightly taller than Mr. Lasar, with red
+hair and a moustache of the same shade."
+
+"Yes, that's Joe Comstock. No doubt about that," nodded Mr. Marquand.
+"You didn't hear them say what their plan was, then?"
+
+"Not definitely. Only that they intended to rid themselves of you
+after having obtained possession of your plans for finding the
+treasure, or at least learning where it is hidden."
+
+"Hm-m-m!"
+
+Mr. Marquand sat thoughtfully silent for several minutes, the lines of
+his face growing tense and hard. The boys could see that he was
+exerting, a strong effort to control himself.
+
+"You-- you haven't told them your plans?" questioned Tad, in a subdued
+voice.
+
+"No. I was going to do so to-night, if Comstock had arrived. He may
+get in yet."
+
+"But you won't do so now-- will you?"
+
+"No! I thank you, boys," exclaimed their host, extending an impulsive
+hand to each at the same time.
+
+"Then-- then our information is going to be of some use to you?"
+
+"More than you can have any idea of. You have done me a greater
+service than you know. I thank you-- thank you from the bottom of my
+heart! Perhaps, ere long I may be able to show my appreciation in a
+more substantial manner."
+
+Marquand ceased speaking abruptly and began pacing back and forth,
+hands thrust deep into his coat pockets. He was a man of slight build,
+but strong and wiry. He was well past middle age, erect and forceful.
+Looking at him, Tad found himself wondering how such a man could have
+gotten into the clutches of two such rascals as Bob Lasar and Joe
+Comstock. Tad hoped their host would offer some explanation, while
+Chunky was nearly bursting with curiosity. Mr. Marquand appeared to
+have forgotten their presence entirely.
+
+"I think we had better be going now," suggested Tad, rising.
+
+"Wait!" commanded their host. "Sit down! I have something to say to
+you. Then, perhaps, I'll walk back to your camp and have a talk with
+the Professor. What sort of man is your guide?"
+
+"He's a very fine man--"
+
+"That's my idea. What you heard on the train is borne out by several
+little things that have come under my observation within the last few
+days, but I did not think they would go as far as you have indicated.
+I will tell you frankly, that I expect the treasure which we hope to
+find to be a big one. How I happened to take these men in with me, in
+the search for it, is unnecessary to state. However, I am done with
+them, now, for good. They know that I have not put my information on
+paper, or else they might have made an end of me before this."
+
+"Is the treasure near this vicinity, Mr. Marquand?" asked Tad.
+
+"About two days' journey. I expect to find it at or near the ruins of
+an old Pueblo house. You know they built their homes one on top of
+another. Some of their adobe houses are six and seven stories high.
+Even if we locate the place, we may experience great difficulty in
+finding that of which we are in search. How would you boys like to
+join me? It will be an interesting experience for you?"
+
+"Help-- help you find the buried treasure?" questioned Chunky, his
+face red with suppressed excitement.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Great!" chorused the lads.
+
+"I'll talk with Professor Zepplin. Come, we will go over to the camp
+now."
+
+When Mr. Marquand and the Professor had finished their conference, Tad
+and Chunky leaned forward eagerly to learn the result.
+
+"Yes," nodded Mr. Marquand; "you're all going to help me find the
+ancient Pueblo treasure."
+
+  CHAPTER XXII
+
+ IN HAND-TO-HAND CONFLICT
+
+"I'm done with you, Bob Lasar! And you, too, Comstock!" thundered Mr.
+Marquand, as the rascals stood at the door of his room some two hours
+later.
+
+Mr. Marquand had been waiting for them, and with him was Tad Butler,
+whom he had urged to accompany him back to the hotel that he might be
+a witness to what took place. Perhaps, too, Mr. Marquand reasoned that
+his former associates might not take the same attitude toward him in
+the presence of the boy that they might otherwise take.
+
+The two men had halted in the doorway as Mr. Marquand hurled his
+decision at them.
+
+Lasar shoved his companion into the room and closed the door.
+
+"Sit down, both of you! So you thought to hoodwink me-- to get the
+secret of the treasure and then put me out of the way, eh? That was
+your game, was it? Well, it's all off now. I'll have nothing further
+to do with you."
+
+"Why-- why, Mr. Marquand, it's all a mistake!" began one of the pair.
+
+"Perhaps you'll deny having plotted against me on a train on your way
+to Bluewater."
+
+"I deny ever having tried to put up a game on--"
+
+"Master Tad, did you ever see these men before?"
+
+They turned on the lad quickly. Neither man had previously observed
+him.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"On the train, as you mentioned just now."
+
+"And they were plotting my life?"
+
+"So it seemed to me, sir."
+
+"What have you to say to that?" demanded Mr. Marquand.
+
+"That the boy lies!"
+
+Tad's face flushed angrily.
+
+"That'll do," said Marquand, more quietly.
+
+"Then you believe him-- you do not believe me?"
+
+"I believe him. I know he has told me the truth. Now, it isn't
+necessary to explain to you. You deserve no explanation and you'll get
+none further than what you already have."
+
+"But--"
+
+"No 'buts' about it. I said I was done with you. Now, I want you to
+get out of my sight! You're a couple of rogues-- so crooked that you
+can't walk straight."
+
+Bob Lasar's face had grown livid with rage. His anger was rapidly
+getting beyond all bounds. Tad observed it and saw the storm coming.
+It arrived a moment later when Lasar whipped out a revolver.
+
+Before Mr. Marquand could make a move to draw his own weapon Bob had
+aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger.
+
+Tad, instantly divining the purpose of the man when he saw his hand
+fly to the pistol holster under his coat, sprang forward.
+
+There was a deafening report. A bullet buried itself in the ceiling of
+the room.
+
+Tad had struck up the desperado's arm just in the nick of time, thus
+preventing a terrible crime. But the end was not yet. There were five
+more bullets in the cylinder of the weapon, as the lad knew full well.
+
+He grabbed Lasar's arm, hanging on desperately, at the same time
+trying to get a wrestling hold.
+
+The weapon went off again, this time sending a bullet into the floor.
+
+"Look out for the other fellow!" shouted Tad.
+
+Mr. Marquand already had done so. Comstock had just made an attempt to
+draw his own weapon when Marquand threw himself upon the man. The two
+went crashing to the floor, while Tad and Lasar were battling all over
+the room, the latter's weapon barking viciously every little while.
+
+Lasar was much more powerful than his slender antagonist, but Tad
+being very quick on his feet managed to keep out of the way of the
+revolver and at the same time to avoid being thrown.
+
+Suddenly, the boy gave the gun-hand of his opponent a quick twist.
+
+Lasar uttered a sharp exclamation of pain. The revolver clattered to
+the floor.
+
+Quick as a flash, Tad threw a leg behind the knee of his antagonist,
+gave it a quick jerk, with the result that Lasar went to the floor
+with great violence.
+
+By this time, occupants of the hotel were running down the hall, while
+others were hammering at the door. Lasar had turned the key upon
+entering the room.
+
+Those within did not have time to listen to the demands of those in
+the hall, who were demanding admission.
+
+Mr. Marquand, as soon as he got his opponent down, quickly disarmed
+him.
+
+"Get up!" he commanded. "I don't want to kill you. I ought to do so,
+but I won't."
+
+He sprang from Comstock, and jerking Tad from Lasar, whom the lad was
+making heroic efforts to hold down, pulled the fallen rascal to his
+feet.
+
+"Get out, both of you!" he commanded, covering both his visitors with
+his weapon.
+
+Lasar, in struggling to his feet, reached for his revolver.
+
+"Drop it or I'll fill you full of lead!"
+
+At that instant, the door burst open and half a dozen men sprang into
+the room.
+
+Lasar, seeing that he was caught, leaped through the open window. He
+was followed closely by Comstock. He, too, made a clean leap, landing
+on the soft ground below.
+
+"What's the meaning of this shooting?" shouted the proprietor, his
+face flushed with anger.
+
+"Two men tried to murder me," replied Marquand coolly.
+
+"It looks as though you were doing your share of it," snapped the
+proprietor, noting his guest's belligerent attitude and drawn weapon.
+
+Just then three shots in quick succession were fired from the outside.
+Two of the bullets narrowly missed some of the men, who had forced
+their way into the room.
+
+As the third shot was fired, Tad threw one hand to his head; then drew
+it away grinning.
+
+"Those rascals have evidently gotten a new supply of fire arms," he
+said.
+
+A bullet had gone through his hair and his scalp burned where the lead
+had brushed it.
+
+All of the newcomers drew their revolvers and sprang to the window.
+
+"Don't shoot!" cried the Pony Rider Boy; "You'll hit the wrong one.
+There are a hundred people down there."
+
+"He's right!" shouted Mr. Marquand, pushing his way between the men
+and the window, at the imminent risk of getting a bullet in his back
+from either Lasar or Comstock. "Let 'em go. They'll be running for
+home about this time. They are a couple of scoundrels, sir."
+
+"But the damage. Look at my fine room."
+
+"I'll pay for the damage, and I'll quit your hotel now. I've had
+enough of the place," retorted Mr. Marquand, pulling a roll of bills
+from his pocket. "How much is it?"
+
+"Well, you see--"
+
+"How much is it?"
+
+"Well, I guess twenty-five would be about right. You see--"
+
+"Here's your twenty-five. Clear out!"
+
+With many apologies the proprietor, accompanied by the others, backed
+from the room.
+
+"We came pretty near having a fight, didn't we?" Marquand smiled,
+looking at Tad for the first time since the disturbance began.
+
+"Almost."
+
+"He would have got me if you hadn't knocked up his gun-hand. That's
+another one I owe you. Well, maybe we'll have a pay day soon."
+
+"You had better go back to camp with me, and bunk in with us
+to-night," suggested the lad, "We shall want to make an early start in
+the morning, anyway. I think it will be safer there, too. That pair
+won't dare come fooling around our camp, knowing they can't trifle
+with us," added the lad, with a note of pride in his tone.
+
+"I'll do it. Not that I'm afraid of anything that walks on two legs,
+but the sooner we hitch up the better it'll be. Got room enough?"
+
+"Plenty. Where's your pony?"
+
+"Up near your camp. Come on."
+
+The man and the boy walked from the hotel, the former looking neither
+to the right nor to the left, Tad observing their surroundings half
+
+suspiciously. He was sure they had not yet heard the last of Bob Lasar
+and Joe Comstock. In this he was right.
+
+Marquand and the boy had gone no more than ten rods from the hotel,
+when the report of a revolver was heard, and a bullet fired from the
+corner of an adobe building passed within an inch of Mr. Marquand's
+head.
+
+With wonderful quickness the latter drew and sent three shots at the
+flash.
+
+Whether he had hit any thing or not he did not know.
+
+"Run! I don't want you to get hit," cried the boy's new friend,
+grasping Tad by the hand and starting off at a brisk pace.
+
+"Bullets don't scare me, so long as they don't hit me," laughed young
+Butler.
+
+  CHAPTER XXIII
+
+ MOONBEAM POINTS THE WAY
+
+The moon will be here in a moment."
+
+"What was it the old Pueblo chief said, Mr. Marquand?"
+
+"'When the full of the moon has come and shoots its first arrow over
+the crests of the Guadalupes, it points the way to the treasure of my
+ancient people,'" quoted Mr. Marquand.
+
+"I presume that would be taken to mean that, at a certain phase of the
+moon, one of its beams points to where the treasure is hidden,"
+explained Professor Zepplin. "But what leads you to believe this is
+the Pueblo village of your particular chief's ancestors?"
+
+"Yes; I don't see why it might not be any of the ruined adobe houses
+in this valley?" said Ned Rector.
+
+They had journeyed rapidly over mountain and plain to the valley of
+the Guadalupes, where Mr. Marquand had informed them that he expected
+to find the treasure. In the three days consumed on the journey, the
+travelers had seen nothing of either Lasar or Comstock. Evidently the
+pair had decided to leave the country while they still had the chance,
+fearing that perhaps Mr. Marquand might invoke the aid of the law to
+rid himself of them if they remained.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys and their outfit had arrived that afternoon, and
+during the remaining hours of daylight they had been excitedly
+exploring the ancient dwellings, most of which were in a dilapidated
+condition. There was one, however, two stories in height, that was in
+an excellent state of preservation. In fact it appeared as if it had
+only recently been vacated. After an examination of all the ruins Mr.
+Marquand had discovered what led him to believe that this was the
+structure which the old Pueblo chief referred to in his description of
+the resting place of the treasure. The chief had said he had never
+been near the spot. He was the only member of his tribe to whom the
+secret had been handed down, and he in turn had transmitted it to the
+white man who now stood within the shadow of the ancient dwelling
+place.
+
+"I have my reasons for believing this is the place," answered Mr.
+Marquand, in response to the Professor's question. "If I am wrong, we
+shall have to wait until the moon rises to-morrow night. Come inside
+now, and we will close the door."
+
+All hands crowded into the cool chamber, closing the heavy wooden door
+that barred the entrance.
+
+"Don't see how moonlight can get through solid walls," muttered Stacy.
+"Ought to leave the door open."
+
+No one answered him. In the darkened chamber, with its peculiar, musty
+odors, the boys did not feel in the mood for hilarity or even for
+speech. There was something about their situation that seemed to
+impress them profoundly.
+
+"Stand over against the wall on the side, so as not to obstruct any
+light that might possibly get in here," directed Mr. Marquand.
+
+The others moved silently to the side of the room indicated by him.
+They had stood thus for fully five minutes when an exclamation from
+Stacy broke the stillness harshly.
+
+"Look! Look!" cried the fat boy.
+
+A slender shaft of light had suddenly pierced the blackness, coming
+they knew not whence. It was there.
+
+"Must be a pin hole through the wall up near the ceiling," suggested
+Kris Kringle.
+
+The silver thread shot across the chamber, ending abruptly on the
+adobe floor some three feet from the back wall.
+
+"That's the spot!" shouted Mr. Marquand triumphantly.
+
+He threw himself on the floor, and with his knife scratched a cross on
+the spot where the moonbeam rested. Scarcely had he done so when the
+delicate shaft of light disappeared as suddenly as it had come.
+
+"It's gone," breathed the boys.
+
+"But it has pointed the way."
+
+"And we have followed the silver trail to its end," added Ned Rector
+poetically.
+
+"Bring the tools!" cried Mr. Marquand.
+
+While they were doing so, he struck a match and lighted the lantern
+that they had brought with them from their camp in the foothills. His
+first care was to bar the door with the heavy wooden timber that he
+had cut and which he now slipped into its fastenings.
+
+A close examination of the floor revealed no marks save those put
+there by the treasure-hunter's knife.
+
+"This house seems to be built on the solid ground. I do not think you
+will find anything under it," protested the Professor.
+
+"There are houses under every one of these buildings," answered Mr.
+Marquand. He held a short, keen edged bar in place, while Kris Kringle
+swung the maul. Gradually they cut a ring about two feet in diameter
+about the cross. The material of which the floor had been made had
+been tempered with the years and was almost as hard as flint.
+
+The steady thud of the heavy maul, accompanied by the click, click of
+the cutting bar, the dim light, the silent, expectant faces, formed a
+weird picture in this silent desert place.
+
+After a full half hour of this the two men paused, and stood back,
+drawing sleeves across their foreheads to wipe away the perspiration.
+
+Stacy Brown walked pompously over to the circle.
+
+"Maybe I can fall through it. If I can't, nobody can," he said,
+jumping up and down on the spot where they had been cutting.
+
+There followed a rambling sound, and with a yell, Stacy Brown suddenly
+disappeared from sight. In place of the circle in which he had been
+standing was a black, ragged hole, from which particles of the mortar
+were still crumbling and rattling to the bottom of the pit.
+
+"Are you there?" cried Kris Kringle, leaping to the spot, thrusting
+the lantern down through the opening. "Master Stacy!"
+
+"Wow!" responded the boy from the depths.
+
+"Did it hurt you?"
+
+"How far did you fall?"
+
+This and other questions were hurled at the fat boy, as his companions
+crowded about the opening.
+
+"I'm killed. That'll answer all your questions," replied Stacy. "Hurry
+up! Get my remains out of this place."
+
+The rays of the lantern disclosed a short stairway, built of the same
+material of which the house itself had been constructed.
+
+Mr. Marquand forced himself past the guide and was down the steps in a
+twinkling. He was followed by the wondering Pony Rider Boys, Professor
+Zepplin and Kris Kringle in short order, for all crowded down through
+the narrow opening.
+
+Chunky had hit the top step and rolled all the way down. He had
+scrambled to his feet and was rubbing his shins by the time his
+friends reached him. His clothes were torn and he was covered with
+dust.
+
+"Fell down the cellar, didn't I?" he grinned.
+
+But no one gave any heed to him now. Mr. Marquand had snatched at the
+lantern and was running from point to point of the chamber in which
+they found themselves. He was laboring under great excitement.
+
+"Here's another opening," he shouted. "We haven't got to the bottom
+yet."
+
+Another flight of stairs led to still another and smaller chamber
+below. Mr. Marquand let out a yell the moment he reached the bottom.
+The others rushed pell-mell after him.
+
+There, with it's top just showing above the dirt was a long iron
+chest.
+
+"Give me the maul!" shouted the excited treasure seeker.
+
+He attacked the rusty iron fastenings; at last the cover yielded to
+his thunderous blows and falling on its edge, toppled over to the
+floor with a crash.
+
+"Somebody's old clothes," chuckled Stacy, peering into the open chest.
+
+The garments, priestly robes that lay at the top, fell to pieces the
+instant Mr. Marquand laid violent hands on them.
+
+"Look! Look! Was I right or was I wrong?" he cried, beside himself
+with joy.
+
+There, before their astonished eyes, lay a chest of gold-- coins
+dulled by age, small nuggets and chunks of silver, all heaped
+indiscriminately in the treasure chest.
+
+"I did it!" shouted Chunky. "I did it with my little feet! I fell in
+and discovered the treasure!"
+
+The tongues of the Pony Rider Boys were suddenly loosened. Such a
+shout as they set up probably never had been heard before in the
+ancient adobe mansion of the Pueblos. Cheer after cheer echoed through
+the chambers and reached the ears of a dozen desperadoes who were
+skulking amid the sage brush without.
+
+Professor Zepplin scooped up a handful of the coins and examined them
+under the lantern.
+
+"Old Spanish coins," he informed them. "Pure gold. And look at these
+nuggets! Where do you suppose the Indians found them?"
+
+"There are hidden mines in the State," informed Mr. Marquand. "Some of
+these days they will be discovered. I have been hunting for them
+myself, but without success. Boys, what do you think of it now? If it
+had not been for you I might never have seen this sight."
+
+Their eyes were fairly bulging as they gazed at the heap of gold.
+Chunky squatted down scooping up a double handful and letting the
+coins run through his fingers. Then the other boys dipped in, laughing
+for pure joy, more because their adventure had borne fruit than for
+the love of the gold itself.
+
+"Must be more'n a bushel of it," announced Stacy.
+
+"Those old Franciscans must have been saving up for a rainy day. And
+it never rained here at all," suggested Ned humorously.
+
+"Shall we count it?" asked Mr. Marquand.
+
+"Just as you wish," replied the Professor.
+
+"Were I in your place, Mr. Marquand, I should get the stuff out of
+here as soon as possible. You can't tell what may happen. I would
+suggest that we secure the treasure and be on our way at once. You
+will want to get it to a bank as quickly as possible. This is one of
+the things that cannot be kept quiet."
+
+"You are right. Will somebody go over to the camp and get those gunny
+sacks of mine? I don't want to lose sight of my find for a minute. You
+know how I feel about it-- not that I do not trust you. You know--"
+
+"Surely we understand," smiled Tad.
+
+"And you all have an interest in it-- you shall share the treasure
+with me--"
+
+"No, we don't," shouted the boys. "We've had more than a million
+dollars worth of fun out of it already."
+
+"Certainly not," added the Professor.
+
+"We'll discuss that later," said Mr. Marquand firmly. "Just now we
+must take care of what we have found. Who will get the bags?"
+
+"We will," answered the boys promptly.
+
+"No; you stay here. I'll get them," answered Kris Kringle. "Light me
+up the stairs so I don't break my neck in this old rookery.
+
+One of the boys lighted the way to the next floor, then stepped back
+into the cellar, where Mr. Marquand was turning over the treasure in
+an effort to find out if the pile extended all the way to the bottom
+of the chest.
+
+In the meantime Kris Kringle unbarred the door and threw it part way
+open. He did it cautiously, as if half expecting trouble.
+
+He threw the door to with a bang, springing to one side, and dropping
+the bar back into place.
+
+The reason for his sudden change of plans was that no sooner had the
+door opened than several thirty-eight calibre bullets were fired from
+the sage brush outside.
+
+Kris Kringle waited to learn whether those in the cellar had heard the
+shots. But they had not. They were some distance below ground, and
+their minds were wholly taken up with the great treasure before them.
+
+After a few moments the guide once more removed the bar, first having
+drawn his revolver in case of sudden surprise. Then he cautiously
+opened the door an inch or so.
+
+At first nothing happened. The moonlit landscape lay as silent and
+peaceful as if there were not a human being on the desert.
+
+There were six distinct flashes all at once and a rain of lead
+showered into the door.
+
+Kris Kringle took a pot shot at one of the flashes, then slammed the
+door shut and barred it.
+
+"Well; I hope that would get you," he muttered.
+
+Hastily retracing his steps he called the party up to the second
+cellar.
+
+"Did you fetch the sacks?" called Mr. Marquand.
+
+"No, but I've fetched trouble. It's coming in sackfuls."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"We're besieged."
+
+"Besieged?" wondered the Professor.
+
+"Yes; there's a crowd outside, and they've been trying to shoot me up.
+Must be some of your friends, Mr. Marquand."
+
+"Lasar and Comstock? The scoundrels!" growled Mr. Marquand. "But we'll
+make short work of them."
+
+"Not so easy as you think There are more than two out there-- there's
+a crowd and they've got rifles. Our rifles are over in the camp. I've
+got a six-shooter and so have you, but what do they amount to against
+half a dozen rifles?"
+
+"I'll talk to them, if I can get any place to make them hear,"
+announced Mr. Marquand, starting up the stairs.
+
+"I reckon there's a window on the second floor, but you'd better be
+careful that you don't get winged," warned the guide.
+
+Mr. Marquand went right on, and the others followed. As the guide had
+said there was a small window on the floor above the ground,
+apparently the only one in the house.
+
+Mr. Marquand hailed the besiegers.
+
+"Who are you and what do you mean by shooting us up in this fashion?"
+he demanded.
+
+"You ought to know who we are, Jim Marquand, and you know what we
+want!"
+
+"Yes, I know you all right, Lasar, and I'll make you smart for this."
+
+"The place is as much mine as it is yours," answered Lasar. "And I
+propose to take it! If you'll make an even divvy of what you have
+found, or expect to find, we'll go away and let you alone. If you
+don't we'll take the whole outfit."
+
+"Take it, take it!" jeered Marquand. "You couldn't take it in a
+hundred years-- not unless you used artillery."
+
+"Then we'll starve you out," replied the man in the sage brush.
+
+"Look out!" warned the guide.
+
+Mr. Marquand sprang to one side just as a volley crashed through the
+opening, the bullets rattling to the floor after bounding back from
+the flint-like walls.
+
+"I guess they've got you, Mr. Marquand. We can't hold out forever. If
+we had rifles we could pick them off by daylight. But when morning
+comes they'll draw back out of revolver range and plunk the first man
+who shows himself outside. Have you any title to this property?"
+
+"Yes. I have bought up a hundred acres about here. The deeds are in my
+pocket. I guess nobody has a better title.".
+
+"His title is all right," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I made sure of
+that before I decided to come with Mr. Marquand."
+
+"Then there's only one thing to be done."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Get a sheriff's posse and bag the whole bunch."
+
+Mr. Marquand laughed harshly.
+
+"If we were in a position to get a posse we should be able to get away
+without one. I think we had better go below. This is not a very safe
+place with this open window."
+
+"I'll remain here."
+
+"What for, Kringle?"
+
+"Somebody's got to watch the front door to see that they don't play
+any tricks on us. It's clouding up, and if the night gets dark they'll
+try to get in."
+
+"How far is it to a place where we could get a sheriff?" asked Tad,
+who had been thinking deeply.
+
+"Hondo. Fifteen miles due east of here as the moon rises. Why?"
+
+"If I were sure I could find my way, I think I might get some help,"
+answered the lad quietly.
+
+"You!" snapped Mr. Marquand, turning on him.
+
+"If I had a rope. Perhaps I can do it without one."
+
+"I'd like to know how?"
+
+Mr. Marquand was inclined to treat the proposition lightly, believing
+that such a move as proposed by Tad Butler was an impossibility. Kris
+Kringle, however, was regarding the boy inquiringly. He knew that Tad
+had some plan in mind and that it was likely to be a good one.
+
+"The rascals are all out in front of the house, aren't they?"
+
+"Yes, Master Tad. There's no reason why they should be behind the
+house. They know we can't get out that way; because there is no
+opening on that side."
+
+Tad nodded.
+
+"Then I can do it."
+
+"Tad, what foolish idea have you in mind now? I cannot consent to your
+taking any more chances
+
+"Professor, we are taking long enough chances as it is. Unless we are
+relieved soon, we shall be starved out and perhaps worse."
+
+"What's your plan?" interrupted Kris Kringle.
+
+"See that hole in the roof up there?" Tad pointed.
+
+They had not seen it before, but they did now. A light suddenly dawned
+upon Kris Kringle.
+
+"Boy, you are the only level-headed one in the outfit. You would have
+made a corking Indian fighter."
+
+"I'm the Indian fighter," chimed in Stacy.
+
+"You can boost me up to the hole and I'll go over the rear of the
+house, get to the camp and from there ride to Hondo."
+
+Tad's three companions started a cheer, which the guide sternly put
+down.
+
+"I can't consent to any such plan," decided the Professor sternly.
+
+The rest reasoned with him until, finally, he did consent, though he
+knew the lad would be taking desperate chances. Tad understood that as
+well as the rest of them, but he was burning to be off.
+
+Kris Kringle gave him careful directions as to how to get to the
+place.
+
+"Take your rifle with you, if you can get it. After you get half a
+mile or a mile away shoot once. That will tell us you are all right."
+
+"You can help me in getting away from here, if you will do some
+shooting to cover my escape," suggested Tad.
+
+"That's a good idea," agreed the guide. "You wait on the roof until we
+begin to rake the sage with our revolvers. Then drop. Take a wide
+circuit, so that you won't stumble over the enemy."
+
+Tad gave his belt a hitch, stuffed his sombrero under it and announced
+himself as ready.
+
+The guide stepped under the hole. Tad quickly climbed to his shoulder
+and stood up like a circus performer. He could easily reach the roof
+with his hands. A second more and his feet were lifted from the
+shoulders of the guide. They saw the figure in the opening; then it
+disappeared.
+
+A slight scraping noise was the only sound they heard.
+
+Tad flattened himself out and wriggled along toward the rear of the
+roof. Peering over the edge he made sure that there was no one about.
+He then lay quietly waiting for the shooting to begin.
+
+"Let 'em have it," directed Kris Kringle.
+
+A sudden fusillade was emptied into the sage brush.
+
+Tad swung himself over the edge of the roof, hung on for a few
+seconds, then dropped lightly to the ground.
+
+  CHAPTER XXlV
+
+ CONCLUSION
+
+The enemy answered the shots with a volley, and for a few moments a
+lot of ammunition was wasted while the odor of gunpowder assailed
+nostrils on both sides.
+
+After that, the shooting died away. As the minutes lengthened into an
+hour, and no word of Tad's mission had been received, the defenders
+began to grow restless. They were under a double tension now. Mr.
+Marquand was pacing up and down the floor.
+
+Suddenly, forgetful of the danger that lurked out there, he poked his
+head out of the window.
+
+A sharp pat on the stone window frame beside him, after the bullet had
+snipped off the tip of his left ear, caused Mr. Marquand to draw back
+suddenly. He stalked about the floor, holding a handkerchief to the
+wounded ear, "talking in dashes and asterisks," as Chunky put it.
+
+Kris Kringle's face wore a grim smile. He was taking chances of being
+shot, every second now, but he insisted in holding his place at the
+side of the window so he could listen and watch.
+
+A thin, fleecy veil covered the moon, but it was not dense enough to
+fully hide objects on the landscape.
+
+"All keep quiet, now," warned Kris Kringle. "We should get a signal
+pretty soon."
+
+"I'm afraid something has happened to the boy," muttered the
+Professor. Then all fell silent.
+
+"There it goes!" exclaimed the guide in a tone of great relief.
+
+The crack of a rifle afar off sounded clear and distinct.
+
+"He's made it. Thank heaven!" breathed Mr. Marquand fervently.
+
+Chunky leaped to the opening, swung his sombrero as he leaned out, and
+uttered a long, shrill "y-e-o-w!"
+
+A bullet chipped the adobe at his side. Stacy ducked, throwing himself
+on the floor, sucking a thumb energetically.
+
+"Wing you?" inquired Kris Kringle.
+
+"Somebody burned my thumb," wailed the fat boy.
+
+"It was a bullet that burned you. Served you right too. Somebody tie
+that boy up or he'll be killed," counseled the guide.
+
+The besiegers could not have failed to hear the shot from Tad's rifle,
+but it did not seem to disturb them. They evidently did not even dream
+that one of the party had escaped their vigilance and that he was well
+on his way for assistance.
+
+The wait from that time on was a tedious and trying one, though each
+felt a certain sense of elation that Tad Butler had succeeded in
+outwitting the enemy.
+
+It was shortly after two o'clock in the morning when Kris Kringle
+espied a party of horsemen slowly encircling the adobe house. The
+riders were strung out far off on the plain. Those hiding in the sage
+in front of the house could not see the approaching horsemen.
+
+"There they come," whispered Kris Kringle. "Begin shooting!"
+
+The two men started firing, while the besiegers poured volley after
+volley through the window.
+
+The posse at this, closed in at a gallop. Their rifles now began to
+crash.
+
+In a few minutes it was all over. The sheriff's men surrounded the
+besiegers, placing every man of them under arrest. After this the
+officers quickly liberated the Pony Rider Boys. Three of the besiegers
+had been wounded. Among them, was the Mexican whom Tad had defeated in
+the tilting game a few days before.
+
+When all was over, the boys hoisted Tad Butler on their shoulders and
+marched around the adobe house shouting and singing. Mr. Marquand
+decided to go back with the posse, using these men as a guard for his
+treasure. It was understood that the Pony Rider Boys were to follow
+the next morning. Before leaving, Mr. Marquand called the Professor
+aside.
+
+"There is, on a rough estimate, all of sixty thousand dollars in the
+treasure chest. Had it not been for you and your brave boys I should
+have lost it. So, when you reach Hondo to-morrow, I shall take great
+pleasure in presenting to each of you a draft for two thousand
+dollars."
+
+Professor Zepplin protested, but Mr. Marquand insisted, and he kept
+his word. After the posse, with their prisoners and the treasure, had
+started, the Pony Rider Boys, arm in arm, started off across the
+moonlit meadows toward their camp. It was their last night in camp.
+Their summer's journeyings had come to an end-- a fitting close to
+their adventurous travels. Not a word did they speak until they
+reached the camp. There, they turned and gazed off over the plain
+which was all silvered under the now clear light of the moon.
+
+"It has been a silver trail," mused Tad Butler.
+
+"It has indeed," breathed his companions
+
+"And we've reached the end of The Silver Trail," added the Professor,
+coming up at that moment. "To-morrow I'll breathe the first free
+breath that I've drawn in three months."
+
+The boys circled slowly around him and joined hands. Then their voices
+rose on the mellow desert air to the tune of
+
+                         "Home, Sweet Home."
+
+A week later saw the wanderers back in Chillicothe. Their welcome was
+a warm one. Banker Perkins found his once ailing son now transformed
+into a sturdy young giant.
+
+We shall meet them again in the next volume of this series-- in a tale
+of surpassing wonders-- published under the title: "THE PONY RIDER
+BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or, the Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch." It
+will be found to be by far the most interesting volume so far
+published about the splendid Pony Rider Boys.
+
+ The End.
+
+
+
+
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico</title>
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pony Rider Boys in New
+Mexico by Frank Gee Patchin</h1>
+
+<pre>
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
+
+Author: Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Release Date: January, 2004  [EBook #4991]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Jim Weiler, xooqi.com
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<h1>The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico</h1>
+
+<h4>or</h4>
+
+<h4>The End of the Silver Trail</h4>
+
+<h2>by Frank Gee Patchin, 1910</h2>
+
+<hr>
+<h3>CHAPTER I</h3>
+
+<h4>SOMETHING IN THE WIND</h4>
+
+<p>"What was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only one of the boys in the seat behind us, snoring."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure they're asleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but what if they're not? They are only kids. They
+wouldn't understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you be too sure about that. I've heard about those
+kids. Heard about 'em over in Nevada. There's four of them. They
+call themselves the Pony Rider Boys; and they're no tenderfeet,
+if all I hear is true. They have done some pretty lively
+stunts."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's all right, Bob, but we ain't going to begin by
+getting cold feet over a bunch of kids out for a holiday."</p>
+
+<p>"Where they going?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't know. Presume they'll be taking a trip over the plains
+or heading for the mountains. They've got a stock car up ahead
+jammed full of stock and equipment."</p>
+
+<p>"Scarecrows?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Good stock. Some of the slickest ponies you ever set eyes
+on. There's one roan there that I wouldn't mind owning. Maybe we
+can make a trade," and the speaker chuckled softly to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>A snore louder than those that had preceded it, caused the two
+men to laugh heartily.</p>
+
+<p>The snore had come from Stacy Brown. Both he and Tad Butler
+were resting from their long journey on the Atlantic and Pacific
+train. Further to the rear of the car, their companions, Ned
+Rector and Walter Perkins, also were curled up in a double seat,
+with Professor Zepplin sitting very straight as if sleep were
+furthest from his thoughts. They were nearing their destination
+now, and within the hour would be unloading their stock and
+equipment at Bluewater.</p>
+
+<p>"They're asleep all right," grinned one of the two men who
+occupied the seat just ahead of Stacy and Tad. "Is old man
+Marquand going to meet us at the station?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no. That wouldn't be a good thing. Might attract too much
+attention. Told him not to. We'll get a couple of ponies at
+Bluewater and ride across the mountains. But we've got to be
+slick. The old man is no fool. He'll hang on to the location of
+the treasure till the last old cat's gone to sleep for good."</p>
+
+<p>"Any idea where the place is?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Except that it's somewhere south of the Zuni range."</p>
+
+<p>A solitary eye in the seat behind, opened cautiously. The eye
+belonged to Stacy Brown. The last snore had awakened him, and he
+had lain with closed eyes listening to the conversation of the
+two men.</p>
+
+<p>He gave Tad a gentle nudge, which was returned with a soft
+pressure on Stacy's right arm as a warning that he was to remain
+quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what the treasure consists of?"</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe a mine, but as near as I could draw from Marquand's
+talk it is jewels and Spanish money which one of the old
+Franciscan monks had buried. The Pueblos knew where it was, but
+they sealed the place up after the Pueblo revolution in 1680, and
+it's been corked tight ever since."</p>
+
+<p>"How'd Marquand get wise to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"From an old Pueblo Chief whose life he saved a few months
+ago. The old chief died a little while afterwards, but before he
+went, he told Marquand about the treasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't suppose a redskin had so much gratitude under his
+tough skin. Does the old man know where the place is?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not exactly. That's where we come in," grinned the
+speaker. "We are going to help him find it."</p>
+
+<p>"And then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well. There's lots of ways to get rid of him."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"He might tumble off into a canyon, or something of the sort,
+in the night time. Here's the place."</p>
+
+<p>The train was rounding a bend into the little town of
+Bluewater.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit still," whispered Tad. "I want to get a look at those
+fellows so I'll know them next time I see them."</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider boy left his seat, and hurrying to the forward
+end of the car, helped himself to a drink of water from the tank;
+then slowly retraced his steps.</p>
+
+<p>As he walked down the car, he took in the two men in one
+swift, comprehensive glance, then swung his hands to his
+companions at the other end of the car, as a signal that they
+were arriving at their destination.</p>
+
+<p>"Know 'em?" whispered Stacy as Tad began pulling his baggage
+from the rack.</p>
+
+<p>"Never saw either before. Better get your stuff together. This
+train is fast only when it stops. It drags along over the
+country, but when it gets into a station it's always in a hurry
+to get away," laughed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later the party of bronzed young men sprang from
+the car to the station platform, where they instantly became the
+center of a throng of curious villagers.</p>
+
+<p>Readers of the preceding volumes of this series are already
+too well acquainted with the Pony Rider Boys to need a formal
+introduction. As told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES,"
+the lads had set out from their homes in Missouri for a summer's
+vacation in the saddle. That first volume detailed how the lads
+penetrated the fastnesses of the Rockies, hunted big game and how
+they finally discovered the Lost Claim, which they won after
+fighting a battle with the mountaineers, thus earning for
+themselves quite a fortune.</p>
+
+<p>In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS," the boys were again seen to
+advantage. There they joined in a cattle drive across the state
+as cowboys. They played an exciting part in the rough life of the
+cowmen, meeting with many stirring adventures. It will be
+remembered how, in this story, Tad Butler saved a large part of
+the herd, besides performing numerous heroic deeds, including the
+saving of the life of a member of the party from a swollen river.
+At the end of their journey, they solved a deep mystery&mdash;a
+mystery that had perplexed and worried the cattle men, besides
+causing them heavy financial loss.</p>
+
+<p>In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA," the scene shifted to the
+old Custer Trail, the battle ground of one of the most tragic
+events in American history. The story described how Tad Butler
+overheard a plot to stampede and kill a flock of many thousand
+sheep; how after experiencing many hardships, he finally carried
+the news to the owner of the herd; then later, participated in
+the battle between the cowmen and sheep herders, in which the
+latter emerged victorious.</p>
+
+<p>It will be recalled too, how the Pony Rider Boy was captured
+by the Blackfeet Indians and taken to their mountain retreat,
+where with a young companion he was held until they made their
+escape with the assistance of an Indian maiden; how they were
+pursued by the savages, the bullets from whose rifles singing
+over the heads of the lads as they headed for a river into which
+they plunged, thus effectually throwing off the savage pursuers;
+and finally, how in time they made their way back to the camp of
+the Pony Riders, having solved the mystery of the old Custer
+Trail.</p>
+
+<p>After these exciting adventures, the lads concluded to cut
+short their Montana trip and go on to the next stage of their
+journeyings, which was destined to be even more stirring than any
+that had preceded it. How Tad Butler and Stacy Brown proved
+themselves to be real heroes, was told in "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN
+THE OZARKS."</p>
+
+<p>For a long time, an organized band of thieves had been
+stealing stock in the Ozark range, baffling all efforts to
+apprehend them. The boys had been warned to guard their own stock
+carefully, but despite this, their ponies were stolen from camp,
+one by one and in a most mysterious manner, until not an animal
+was left. Then, one by one, the Pony Rider Boys became lost until
+only Tad and Stacy remained. They were facing starvation, and it
+will be recalled how Tad Butler made a plucky trip to the nearest
+mining camp for assistance. There the boys were imprisoned
+underground by a mine explosion; escaping from which, they met
+with perils every bit as grave, and from which they were
+eventually rescued by Stacy himself.</p>
+
+<p>Through the disaster, the lads solved the Secret of the Ruby
+Mountain, thus putting an end for good to the wholesale thieving
+in the Ozark range.</p>
+
+<p>Though the Pony Rider Boys had suffered many hardships in
+their journeyings, those that lay before them were destined to
+try them even more. In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI," they
+faced the perils of the baking alkali desert. It will be recalled
+how they fought desperately for water when all the usual sources
+of supply were found to have run dry; how Tad and Stacy Brown
+were captured by a desert hermit and thrown into a cave; how,
+after their escape, they were lost in the Desert Maze, and how
+after many hardships, they finally succeeded in making their way
+to camp, dragging behind them a wild coyote that Tad had roped
+when the boys were beset by the wild beasts in the dead of
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing daunted by their trying experiences the Pony Rider
+Boys set out on the concluding trip of the season&mdash;a journey
+over the historic plains and mountains of New Mexico. After a
+long railroad ride, they had finally arrived at the town of
+Bluewater, from which they were to begin their explorations in
+the southwest.</p>
+
+<p>A guide was to meet and conduct them across the mountains of
+the Zuni range and so on to the southern borders of the
+state.</p>
+
+<p>By the time they reached the platform of the station, the
+stock car had been uncoupled and was being shifted to a side
+track where they might unload their belongings at their
+leisure.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder where that guide is," said Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"He was told to be here," answered the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind; we can unload better without him," averred Ned,
+starting off at a brisk trot for their car which had been shunted
+alongside the platform at the rear of the station.</p>
+
+<p>With joyous anticipation of the new scenes and experiences
+that lay before them, the lads set briskly to work, and within an
+hour had all the stock and equipment removed from the car.</p>
+
+<p>There was quite an imposing collection, with their ponies,
+their burros, tents and other equipment, the latter lying strewn
+all over the open level space beyond the station.</p>
+
+<p>"Looks as if a circus had just come to town," laughed
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got a side show, anyway," retorted Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"What's our side show?"</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky's that."</p>
+
+<p>"No; he's the clown. The rest of us are the animals, only
+we're not in cages."</p>
+
+<p>"Hey, fellows, see that funny Mexican on the burro there,"
+laughed Chunky. "Guess he never saw an outfit like ours
+before."</p>
+
+<p>The lads could not repress a laugh as they glanced at the
+figure pointed out by Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>The man was sitting on the burro, his feet extended on the
+ground before him, hands thrust deep into trousers pockets. He
+was observing the work of the boys curiously. The fellow's high,
+conical head was crowned by a peaked Mexican hat, much the worse
+for wear, while his coarse, black hair was combed straight down
+over a pair of small, piercing, dark eyes. The complexion, or
+such of it as was visible through the mask of wiry hair, was
+swarthy, his form thin and insignificant.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy Brown strode over to him somewhat pompously.</p>
+
+<p>"You speak English?" questioned the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>The Mexican's lips curled back, revealing two rows of
+gleaming, white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad to hear it. I didn't think you could. We are looking
+for a guide who was to have met us here to conduct us over the
+mountains. His name is Juan. It'll be something else when he does
+show up. Do you know him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't he coming to meet us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I must say he's taking his time about getting here.
+Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Juan here, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>"Here? I don't see him," answered the lad, looking about the
+place.</p>
+
+<p>"Me Juan," grinned the Mexican. "You?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind the se&ntilde;or. I'll take for granted I'm a
+se&ntilde;or, or whatever else you think. Say, fellows, come
+here," commanded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's the matter?" demanded Ned, approaching, followed
+by the other boys.</p>
+
+<p>"This is it," announced Stacy, with a wave of his hand toward
+the Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" sniffed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"This."</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky, what are you getting at?" questioned Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps this gentleman will know where we may find our
+guide," interrupted the Professor, coming up. "Se&ntilde;or, do
+you know one Juan&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he knows him," grinned Stacy. "He's very well acquainted
+with the gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Then where may we find this Juan</p>
+
+<p>"That's Juan&mdash;that's your guide," Stacy informed the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;are you the guide?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or."</p>
+
+<p>The Professor opened his eyes in amazement. The burro, on the
+other hand, stood with nose to the ground sound asleep, oblivious
+to all that was taking place about him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you make yourself known&mdash;why haven't you
+helped us to unload?" demanded the Professor in an irritated
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Me no <i>peon</i>. Me guide."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a guide," explained Stacy. "Guides don't work, you know,
+Professor. They are just ornaments. He and the burro are going to
+pose for our amusement."</p>
+
+<p>The boys laughed heartily. Professor Zepplin uttered an
+exclamation of impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, if you are going with this outfit you will be expected
+to do your share of the labor. There are no drones in our
+hive."</p>
+
+<p>"No; we all work," interposed Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"And some of us are eaters," added Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his pearly teeth.</p>
+
+<p>At the Professor's command, however, Juan stepped off the
+burro without in the least disturbing that animal's dreams and
+lazily began collecting the baggage as directed by the Professor.
+After the equipment had been sorted into piles, the boys did it
+up into neat packs which they skillfully strapped to the backs of
+the burros of their pack train. Juan, lost in contemplation of
+their labors, forgot his own duties until reminded of them by
+Stacy, who gave the guide a violent poke in the ribs with his
+thumb.</p>
+
+<p>Juan started; then, with a sheepish grin, became busy
+again.</p>
+
+<p>It was no small task to get their belongings in packs
+preparatory to the journey; but late in the afternoon the boys
+had completed their task. They had had nothing to eat since early
+morning. But they were too anxious to be on their way to wait for
+dinner in town.</p>
+
+<p>After making some necessary purchases in the village, the
+procession finally started away across the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll never get anywhere with that sleepy burro, Juan,"
+decided the Professor, with a shake of the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Him go fast," grinned the Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"So can a crab on dry land," jeered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the guide utter a series of shrill "yi-yi's,"
+whereupon the lads were treated to an exhibition such as they
+never had seen before.</p>
+
+<p>The sleepy burro projected his head straight out before him,
+while his tail, raised to a level with his back, stuck straight
+out behind him. The burro, seemingly imbued with sudden life, was
+off at a pace faster than a man could run.</p>
+
+<p>It was most astonishing. The boys gazed in amazement; then
+burst out in a chorus of approving yells.</p>
+
+<p>But it was the rider, even more than the burro, that excited
+their mirth. His long legs were working like those of a jumping
+jack, and though astride of the burro, Juan was walking at a
+lively pace. It reminded one of the way men propelled the
+old-fashioned velocipedes years before.</p>
+
+<p>A cloud of dust rose behind the odd outfit as the party drew
+out on the plains. Their ponies were started at a gallop, which
+was necessary to enable them to keep up with the pace that Juan
+had set.</p>
+
+<p>"Here! Here!" shouted the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>Juan never looked back.</p>
+
+<p>"We're leaving the pack train. Slow down!"</p>
+
+<p>Laughingly the lads pulled their ponies down to a walk; then
+halted entirely to enable the burros to catch up with them. By
+this time the pack animals had become so familiar with their work
+that little attention was necessary on the part of the boys. Now
+and then one more sleepy than the rest would go to sleep and
+pause to doze a few minutes on the trail. This always
+necessitated all hands stopping to wait until the sleeper could
+be rounded up and driven up to the bunch.</p>
+
+<p>Juan had disappeared. They were discussing the advisability of
+sending one of the boys out after him when he was seen returning.
+But at what a different gait! His burro was dragging itself along
+with its head close to the ground, while Juan himself was slouching on its
+back half asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"You must have a motor inside that beast," grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Him go some, se&ntilde;or?"</p>
+
+<p>"Him do," answered Stacy, his solemn eyes taking in the sleepy
+burro wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Better not waste your energy performing," advised the
+Professor. "We shall need what little you have. We will make camp
+here, as I see there is a spring near by. Help the boys unpack
+the burros."</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or," answered the guide, standing erect and
+permitting his burro to walk from under him.</p>
+
+<p>With shouts and songs the lads, in great good humor, went to
+work at once, pitching their camp for the first time on the
+plains of New Mexico. There was much to be done, and twilight was
+upon them before they had advanced far enough to begin cooking
+their evening meal.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II</h3>
+
+<h4>IN THE ZUNI FOOTHILLS</h4>
+
+<p>A sudden wail from the guide attracted the attention of the
+party to him at once. "Now what's the matter?" demanded Tad,
+hurrying to him.</p>
+
+<p>The guide had thrown himself prone upon the ground and was
+groaning as if in great agony, offering no reply to the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, si, se&ntilde;or," moaned Juan.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"Estomago&mdash;mucho malo."</p>
+
+<p>"Your stomach?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's got a pain under his apron," diagnosed Stacy
+solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Been working too hard," suggested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the guide was rolling and twisting on the
+ground, glancing appealingly from one to the other of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Professor, hadn't you better fetch your medicine case and
+dose him up?" asked Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'll attend to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Give him a good dose while you are about it," urged Ned.
+"Something that will cure his laziness at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>The Professor brought his case; then, remembering something
+else in his kit that he wanted, he laid the case down and hurried
+back to his tent. However, Stacy opened the case, selecting a
+bottle, apparently at random, drew the cork and held the bottle
+under Juan's nose.</p>
+
+<p>"Smell of this, my son. It'll cure your estomago on the
+run."</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful, Chunky, what are you doing there?" warned Tad.
+"You shouldn't fool with the medicines. You&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>His further remarks were cut short by a sudden yell of terror
+and pain from Juan.</p>
+
+<p>The guide leaped to his feet choking, gasping, while the tears
+ran down his cheeks as he danced about as if suddenly bereft of
+his senses.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you've gone and done it," growled Ned. "He never moved so
+fast in his life, I'll wager."</p>
+
+<p>Juan was running in a circle now, shrieking and moaning.
+Professor Zepplin approached them in a series of leaps. He could
+not imagine what new disaster had overtaken the lazy Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here, here, what's the trouble now?" He demanded
+sternly. "Stop that howling!"</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky's been prescribing for your patient in your absence,"
+Ned informed him.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor grabbed the wild guide by the collar, giving him
+a vigorous shake. When he released his grip, Juan sank to the
+ground in a heap, moaning weakly.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that you say? Stacy prescribed&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I let him smell of the bottle," explained Stacy
+guiltily.</p>
+
+<p>"What bottle?"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy slowly picked up the offending bottle and handed it to
+the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Ammonia! Boy, you might have put his eyes out! Never let this
+occur again. Remember, you are not to touch the medicines under
+any circumstances whatever!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," agreed Chunky meekly, while Ned Rector strolled
+away, shaking with laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Drink," begged the patient.</p>
+
+<p>"Fetch him some water," directed Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no, se&ntilde;or," protested Juan, gesticulating
+protestingly.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"Guess he wants something stronger than water," suggested
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Si, si, si," agreed the guide, showing his white teeth in an
+approving grin.</p>
+
+<p>"You won't get anything stronger than that in this outfit,
+unless you cook yourself some coffee," muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what's the matter with him," decided Chunky, who had
+been observing the sick man keenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess we drew a prize when we got Juan," announced
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Give him some medicine, anyway," urged Ned. "He is sick&mdash;
+let him take the dose."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him have the worst you've got in your case, Professor,"
+added Tad, with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>A grim smile played about the corners of Professor Zepplin's
+mouth as he ran his fingers over the bottles in his medicine
+case. Finally, selecting one that seemed to fit the particular
+ailment of his patient, he directed Chunky to fetch a spoon.</p>
+
+<p>By this time Juan was protesting volubly that he was "all
+better" and did not need the medicine. The Professor gave no heed
+to the fellow's protestations.</p>
+
+<p>"Open your mouth," he commanded.</p>
+
+<p>Juan shut his teeth tightly together.</p>
+
+<p>"Open your mouth!" commanded the Professor sternly. "We want
+no sick men about this camp. It will fix you in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>But the guide steadfastly refused to separate the white
+teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys, open his mouth while I pour the medicine down him,"
+gritted the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>They required no urging to do the Professor's bidding. Tad and
+Ned ranged themselves on either side of the patient, while Chunky
+sat on the guide's feet. Almost before he was aware of their
+purpose the boys had pried his jaws open and into the opening
+thus made professor Zepplin dropped the concoction he had
+mixed.</p>
+
+<p>The effect was electrical. Juan leaped to his feet as if
+elevated by springs, uttering a yell that might have been heard a
+mile or more on the open plain. But Juan did not run in a circle
+this time. Acting upon the mathematical theory that a straight
+line is the shortest distance between two points, the guide made
+a break for the spring, howling like a madman. The Pony Rider
+Boys looked on in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>Juan fell on his knees before the spring, dipping up the water
+in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you give him, professor?" grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Hot drops!" answered the man of science tersely.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that stuff you fed me when I ate too much honey in the
+Rockies?" questioned Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"The same."</p>
+
+<p>"Wow! I had ten drops and it felt like a pailful when it got
+inside of me."</p>
+
+<p>"How much did you give Juan?" questioned Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty drops," answered Professor Zepplin without the
+suspicion of a smile on his face this time.</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider Boys added their yells to those of the guide,
+only with a difference. The more Juan drank of the spring water,
+the more did the hot drops burn.</p>
+
+<p>All at once he sprang up and started for the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"Catch him!" commanded the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>With a shout the lads started in pursuit. They overhauled the
+guide some twenty rods from camp, he having proved himself fleet
+of foot. Then again, the fire within him perhaps helped to
+increase his natural speed.</p>
+
+<p>"I burn! I burn!" he wailed as the boys grabbed and laughingly
+hustled him back to camp.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll burn worse than that if you ever ask for liquor in
+this outfit," retorted Ned. "We don't use the stuff, nor do we
+allow anyone around us who does."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you feel now?" grinned the Professor as they came up
+to him with their prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"He's got a whole camp-fire in his little estomago," announced
+Chunky solemnly, which sally elicited a loud laugh from the
+boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Give him some olive oil," directed the Professor. "I think
+the lesson has been sufficiently burned into him "</p>
+
+<p>But considerable persuasion was necessary to induce Juan to
+take a spoonful of the Professor's medicine. He had already had
+one sample of it and he did not want another. Yet after some
+urging he tasted of the oil, at first gingerly; then he took it
+down at a gulp.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" he breathed.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it good?" grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Si. Much burn, much burn," he explained, rubbing his
+stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"Think you want some liquor still, Juan, or would you prefer
+another dose of my magic drops?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no, se&ntilde;or!" cried Juan, hastily moving away
+from Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; any time when you feel a longing for strong drink,
+just help yourself to the hot drops," said the Professor,
+striding away to his tent, medicine case in hand.</p>
+
+<p>The guide, a much chastened man, set about assisting in
+getting the evening meal, but the hot drops still remained with
+him, making their presence known by occasional hot twinges.</p>
+
+<p>Supper that night was an enjoyable affair, though it was
+observed that the guide did not eat heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think he really had a pain?" asked Walter
+confidentially, leaning toward Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Pain? No. He wanted something else."</p>
+
+<p>"And he got it," added Stacy, nodding solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>A chorus of "he dids" ran around the table, stopping only when
+they reached Juan himself.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III</h3>
+
+<h4>INDIANS!</h4>
+
+<p>"Juan, did you see two men get off the train at Bluewater
+yesterday when we did? One of them had a big, broad sombrero like
+mine?" asked Tad, riding up beside the guide next day while they
+were crossing the range.</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Know them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si," he replied, holding up one finger.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean you know one of them?"</p>
+
+<p>The guide nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;or Lasar."</p>
+
+<p>"Lasar. What's his other name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Juan not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they stop in the village?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Se&ntilde;ors get ponies, ride over mountain," and the
+guide pointed lazily to the south-west.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did they go? Do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he did not.</p>
+
+<p>"What is Mr. Lasar's business?"</p>
+
+<p>Again the guide answered with a shrug. He seemed disinclined
+to discuss the man in whom Tad Butler was so much interested. Up
+to that time the lad had been too fully occupied with other
+matters to think of the conversation he and Stacy had overheard
+on the Atlantic and Pacific train. Now it came back to him with
+full force.</p>
+
+<p>"Know anybody by the name of Marquand in this country?" he
+asked, taking another tack.</p>
+
+<p>Juan said he did not, and then Tad gave up his
+questioning.</p>
+
+<p>"I was asking Juan about the two men who sat ahead of us in
+the train yesterday," he explained to Chunky, as the fat boy
+joined them.</p>
+
+<p>"Wha'd he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"One is named Lasar, but he did not know the other one. I
+can't help believing that those fellows were plotting to do some
+one a great injury."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I," agreed Chunky. "I guess we had better not say
+anything about it to the others, but we'll try to find out who
+this man Lasar is, and who Mr. Marquand is. Then we'll decide
+what to do next."</p>
+
+<p>Their further conversation was interrupted by the voice of the
+Professor, announcing that they would halt for their noonday
+meal. All other thoughts left the mind of Stacy Brown when the
+question of food was raised. He quickly slipped from his pony,
+running back to hurry the burros along so as to hasten the meal
+for which he was yearning. Only one burro was unpacked, as it was
+the intention of the outfit to push on soon after finishing their
+lunch.</p>
+
+<p>While the guide, under Ned's direction, was making it ready,
+Tad and Chunky strolled off to climb a high rock that they had
+seen in the vicinity and which, they thought, might give them a
+good view of the plains to the southwest on the other side of the
+range.</p>
+
+<p>They had promised to be back in half an hour, but
+circumstances arose that caused them to delay their return
+considerably.</p>
+
+<p>After threshing through the bushes, over sharp rocks and
+through miniature canyons, they gained at last the object of
+their quest. The distance had been further than they had
+imagined.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to make a short trip of it up to the top and
+back," said Tad. "It has taken us almost all our time to get
+here. But we'll have a look, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>They soon gained the top of the rock, which stood some twenty
+feet higher than the crest of the mountain on which it
+rested.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't this great?" exclaimed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Might think we were in the Rockies."</p>
+
+<p>"Or the Ozarks."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope we don't have as much trouble here as we did in that
+range. Our guide is not much better than the Shawnee we had for a
+time on that trip. I can't see the foothills, but the plain on
+beyond is pretty clear."</p>
+
+<p>"Hope we don't have to chase all over the desert for water.
+I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Tad grasped his companion by the sleeve and jerked him
+violently to the rock.</p>
+
+<p>"What's up? What's the matter with you?" protested Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still, some one's coming."</p>
+
+<p>The lad's keen ears had caught a sound which Stacy had
+entirely failed to hear. It was the sound of horses making their
+way through the bushes. There were several in the party, Tad
+could tell by the sounds, and having in mind the man Lasar, he
+thought he might perhaps learn something of advantage by
+remaining quietly on the top of the rock.</p>
+
+<p>All this he explained in a few brief words to his companion.
+Then both boys crouched low, peering over the cliff, having first
+removed their sombreros.</p>
+
+<p>What they saw, a few moments later, surprised them very much
+indeed.</p>
+
+<p>The horsemen in single file suddenly appeared out of a draw to
+the east and headed for the rock where the lads were in
+hiding.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look!" exclaimed Tad in a low, suppressed voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I-n-d-i-a-n-s!" breathed Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>They seemed to rise right up out of the ground, as one by one
+they emerged from the draw to the more level rocks that lay about
+the hiding place of the Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder who they are?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"They look savage. I wonder if they'd hurt us, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I do know, though, that I wouldn't trust those
+ugly faces one second. I thought the Blackfeet were savage, but
+they're not to be compared with these redskins."</p>
+
+<p>A full dozen of them had, by this time, come into view. They
+sat huddled on their ponies, their painted faces just appearing
+above the gayly colored blankets in which they were
+enveloped.</p>
+
+<p>"They must be cold," muttered Chunky. "Shouldn't think they'd
+need bed clothes around them this time of the year."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so loud, Chunky," warned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Know what they are, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't say positively, but somehow they look to me like
+Apaches."</p>
+
+<p>Tad's surmise was correct. The twelve warriors were members of
+the savage band that had in past years caused the Government so
+much trouble and bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>"They're off their reservation, if they are Apaches,"
+whispered the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"What does that indicate, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. They may be on the warpath; then, again, they
+may be down here after game. I'm not sure even, if there is any
+game here. We'll lie still until they get by us. That's the best
+plan; don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Lie perfectly still, Chunky. The little bushes in front of us
+will screen us, providing we don't move about. Indians have quick
+eyes, though they do look as if they were half asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"They're getting off their horses, Tad. What does that
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>Tad peered through the bushes, noting every move that the
+redskins made. At first he thought they had discovered him and
+were about to surround the rock and take him prisoner. But he
+soon saw that such was not their intention. Tethering their
+ponies, the Indians cast their blankets on the ground, after
+having first picked out a suitable place.</p>
+
+<p>"They're making camp," whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>One after another of the savages took out his pipe, and soon
+the odor from burning tobacco was wafted to the nostrils of the
+hidden Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess they're going to get some dinner," decided Stacy,
+observing that the strangers were gathering brush.</p>
+
+<p>This was the case. The ponies had been staked where they could
+browse on the green leaves, and now their masters were about to
+satisfy their own appetites.</p>
+
+<p>Tad groaned.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" questioned Stacy apprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>"They will be here half of the day at least. I know a little
+about Indians, having been captured by them once. The difference
+is that my Indians were in a hurry to get somewhere. These
+fellows seem to have all the time in the world. They're
+waiting&mdash;killing time for some reason. You'll see, after
+they finish their dinner, that they will smoke some more, then
+lie down for a catnap."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;and what'll we be doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be hiding on the top of this rock, Chunky."</p>
+
+<p>"Wish I had my rifle."</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky for both of us that you haven't."</p>
+
+<p>The lads had been talking in whispers, but the words fairly
+froze in their mouths, when, upon glancing down they saw the eyes
+of a savage fixed upon them.</p>
+
+<p>"On your life, don't move a muscle, Chunky," whispered Tad, as
+soon as he had recovered his wits.</p>
+
+<p>Tad was not sure that the Indian saw them, yet there could be
+no doubt that the savage eyes were burning into their very
+own.</p>
+
+<p>Soon, however, the Indian dropped his glances to his pipe bowl
+and the boys breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't move yet, Chunky," directed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>It was a wise command, for almost instantly the Indian glanced
+in their direction again, and, as if satisfied, emptied his pipe
+and stretched out on his blanket. The two lads breathed sighs of
+relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he see us, do you think, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. At first he thought he saw something up here, but he
+changed his mind after a little, as you observed."</p>
+
+<p>By this time the redskins were cooking their midday meal, and
+the odor nearly drove Stacy frantic. It made him realize how
+hungry he was. He pulled a leaf from a bush and began chewing it
+in hopes of wearing off the keen edge of his appetite.</p>
+
+<p>"How long we got to stay here?" he demanded. "I've a good
+notion to get up and walk back to camp. They don't dare hurt
+us."</p>
+
+<p>"Lie still!" commanded his companion sternly. "I have a plan
+that we may be able to put into operation. We can't do it now,
+though."</p>
+
+<p>The lads waited, Tad almost with the patience of an Indian,
+Chunky ill at ease and restless.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you lie still? What ails you?"</p>
+
+<p>"My stomach's fighting my appetite. Hear 'em growl at each
+other?"</p>
+
+<p>"S-h-h-h."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care. I'd 'bout as soon be scalped as to starve to
+death."</p>
+
+<p>The braves had by now filled their stomachs, gulping their
+food down without the formality of chewing it at all. Stacy's
+amazement was partly mixed with admiration as he observed the
+food disappear with such rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>Now the braves had begun puffing at their pipes. After a time,
+one by one laid down his smoking bowl and stretched himself out
+for a nap, just as Tad had said they would. The savages were
+spread out so that they had a very good view of three sides of
+the rock on which the two lads were perched, but the fourth side
+was hidden from them. Tad decided that, as the Indians showed no
+intention of moving, they were going to remain where they were
+until night.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to follow me, Chunky," Butler said, determined to
+try his plan. "You will have to move absolutely without a sound.
+Look before you put down foot or hand. Be sure where you place
+them. We'll wait a few minutes until they're sound asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"What you going to do&mdash;sneak?"</p>
+
+<p>"Try to get back to camp. The others will be coming along
+looking for us pretty soon, if we don't get away. The Indians
+might resent being disturbed, and perhaps make trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me when you're ready, then."</p>
+
+<p>Some minutes had elapsed and the lads could plainly hear the
+snores of their besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>"Now!" whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time he began crawling toward the edge of the rock
+at their rear. Stacy was close upon his heels.</p>
+
+<p>The side which the boys were to descend was much more
+precipitous than the one they had come up by, but offered no very
+great difficulties for two nimble boys. Proceeding with infinite
+caution, they gained the ground without a mishap.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll walk straight on in this direction, until we get out of
+sight; then we can turn to the left and hurry to the camp."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy nodded. As he did so his eyes were off the ground for a
+few seconds. Those few seconds proved his undoing.</p>
+
+<p>The lad stepped on a stone that gave way under him, turning
+his ankle almost upon its side.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch!" yelled Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you've done it," snapped Tad. "We'll have the whole pack
+of them down on us. Can you walk?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I don't know. I'll try."</p>
+
+<p>"Take hold of my hand. You've got to run."</p>
+
+<p>The redskins were on their feet in an instant. A few bounds
+carried them around the rock whence the exclamation had come. By
+this time Tad had dragged his companion into the bushes but not
+quickly enough to elude the keen eyes of the savages.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians uttered a short, sharp cry, then aimed their
+rifles at the figures of the two fleeing Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>Tad saw the movement. He threw himself prone upon the ground,
+jerking Chunky down beside him.</p>
+
+<p>They were screened from the eyes of the enemy, for the
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Crawl! Crawl!" commanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>On hands and feet the boys began running rapidly over the
+ground, on down into a narrow gulch. If they could gain the
+opposite side they would be safe, as it was unlikely that the
+Indians would follow them there. To do so, the boys were obliged
+to cross an open space. They had just reached it, when their
+pursuers appeared behind them. Once more the Indians raised their
+rifles, their fingers exerting a gentle pressure on the
+triggers.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV</h3>
+
+<h4>ON THE TRAIL OF JUAN</h4>
+
+<p>"Look out! They're going to shoot!" cried Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The lads quickly rolled in opposite directions.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo-o, Tad!"</p>
+
+<p>The call was in the stentorian voice of Professor Zepplin, to
+which Ned Rector added a shout of his own.</p>
+
+<p>Fearing that some ill had befallen Tad and Stacy, the others
+had started out after them. Following them came Walter and the
+lazy Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"We're down here! Look out for the Indians!" warned Tad in a
+loud voice.</p>
+
+<p>"You're crazy!" jeered Ned. "Come out of that. What ails you
+fellows? The dinner's stone cold and Professor Zepplin is all in
+the stew."</p>
+
+<p>Tad scrambled to his feet, with a quick glance at the top of
+the ridge, where, but a moment before, half a dozen rifles had
+been leveled at Chunky and himself.</p>
+
+<p>Not an Indian was in sight. Tad was amazed. He could not
+understand it. Grabbing Stacy by an arm he hurried him up the
+other side of the gulch, where they quickly joined their
+companions.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" demanded the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry! We must get out of this. It's Indians!"</p>
+
+<p>"They&mdash;they wanted to scalp us," interjected Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"But you runned away, eh? Brave man!" chuckled Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Indians! There are no Indians here.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you about it when we get to camp. They were just
+about to shoot at us when you appeared up here."</p>
+
+<p>"'Pache bad Injun," vouchsafed Juan.</p>
+
+<p>"Were those Apaches?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The guide shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I was sure they were, though I do not think I ever saw an
+Apache before. They don't live about here, do they, Juan?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Pache off reservation. Him go dance. Firewater! Ugh!" making
+a motion as if scalping himself.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm hungry," called Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; so am I," added Tad. "But I think we had better not wait
+to eat. We can take a bite in the saddle while we are
+moving."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy protested loudly at this, but Tad's judgment prevailed
+with the Professor, after the boys had related their experience
+in detail. All hands began at once to pack up the few belongings
+that had been taken from the burro, and once more they started on
+their way, moving somewhat more rapidly than had been the case in
+the early part of the day.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose there will be much use in our hurrying,
+Professor," said the lad, after they had been going a short time.
+"I know enough about Indians to be sure those fellows will follow
+us until they satisfy themselves who and what we are. They are up
+to some mischief, and they thought we were spying on them.
+Otherwise, I do not believe they would have tried to shoot us.
+Don't know as you could blame them much."</p>
+
+<p>"I am inclined to agree with you, Master Tad. It will be good
+policy not to pay any attention to them if we discover any of
+them. Just go right along about our business as if we didn't see
+them at all."</p>
+
+<p>"And you're not likely to," grinned Tad. "Where did you say
+they were going, Juan?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Pache, go dance."</p>
+
+<p>"He means they're bound for a pow-wow somewhere. That explains
+it," nodded the lad.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the day passed without incident. Not a sign of the
+Indians did the boys see. As a matter of fact, the roving
+redskins were as anxious to keep out of the sight of the Pony
+Riders as the boys were to have them do so.</p>
+
+<p>The party enjoyed the trip over the mountains immensely; and,
+when, a few days later, they made camp in the foothills on the
+southern side of the Zuni range, the boys declared that they had
+never had a better time.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin decided that they would remain in that camp
+for a couple of days, as he desired to make some scientific
+investigations and collect geological specimens. This suited the
+rest of the party, who were free to make as many side trips as
+they wished, into mountain fastnesses or over the plains to the
+south of them.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the day the guide asked permission to go away for an
+hour or so. They noticed that he had been uneasy, apparently
+anxious to get away for some reason unknown to them.</p>
+
+<p>"He's got something up his sleeve," decided Tad, eyeing Juan
+narrowly.</p>
+
+<p>"You may go, but we shall expect you back in time for the noon
+meal," the Professor told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me money," requested the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Let me see, you have worked a week. I gave you
+five dollars when we started out. You were to have ten dollars a
+week while you were with us. That leaves five dollars due you,"
+announced the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Me work week. Me want ten dollars."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my man, I've already paid you five dollars, which pays
+you for half of the week. Here is the five dollars for the other
+half. That's all I owe you. Do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si se&ntilde;or. But Juan work one week," protested the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me show him," interrupted Tad. He drew ten marks in the
+sand with a stick, separating them into two groups of five. "Here
+are ten marks, Juan. We'll call them ten dollars.
+Understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here are the first five marks in the dirt that the
+Professor paid you. How many does that leave?"</p>
+
+<p>"Five," gleamed the white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"Right. Go to the head of the class," interrupted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky, you keep out of this. You'll mix him up."</p>
+
+<p>"Guess somebody's mixed up already," retorted the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Five is right," continued Tad. Five dollars is what we owe
+you. Is that clear now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si, se&ntilde;or. But I work one week. Juan earn ten
+dollar&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what to do," interjected Ned. "Start all over
+again. You begin work to-day; Juan, and we'll pay you ten dollars
+for every week from now on. You haven't worked for us before
+to-day, you know."</p>
+
+<p>The lads laughed heartily, but Juan merely showed his teeth,
+protesting that he had earned ten dollars.</p>
+
+<p>"Here," said Tad, thrusting a five dollar bill at him. "You
+take this. It's all we owe you. If you see any of your friends,
+you ask them how much we owe you. They'll tell you the Professor
+is right."</p>
+
+<p>Juan took the money greedily, still protesting that they owed
+him ten dollars, because he had worked a week. Mounting his
+burro, he rode away; at once falling into the marvelous speed
+that he had shown them on the first day out.</p>
+
+<p>The lads shouted with laughter as they saw burro and rider
+disappear among the foothills, both running for all they were
+worth, Juan uttering his shrill "yi-yi's," as he pedaled the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>That was the last they saw of the Mexican guide that day. The
+rest of the day was employed in games, trick riding, rope
+throwing and the like. Stacy found some horned frogs, which were
+of considerable interest to the boys. Chunky made the discovery
+that the frogs liked to have their backs scratched with a stick,
+and the frogs of the foothills probably never spent such a happy
+day in all their lives as Chunky and his stick provided for them
+that afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the day, it dawned upon the boys that Juan was still
+absent. They consulted with the Professor about this, upon his
+return from a collecting trip along the foot of the mountains.
+But the Professor was sure Juan would be in in time for
+supper.</p>
+
+<p>Such was not the case, however. After the meal had been
+finished Tad announced his intention of riding off in the
+direction Juan had gone, to see if the guide could not be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go with you," announced Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"All right; come along," said Tad, tightening his saddle
+girths. "We'll have a fine gallop."</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful that you do not get lost, boys," warned the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't get lost. All we have to do is to follow the foothills.
+We shall probably find Juan and his burro sound asleep on an
+ant-hill somewhere. He's positively the laziest human being I
+ever set eyes on."</p>
+
+<p>"Better take along five dollars to bait him with," suggested
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got my stick," said Stacy. "I'll tickle the back of the
+burro and its rider, just as I did the frogs."</p>
+
+<p>"You try that on the burro and he'll kick you into the middle
+of next week," warned Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," laughed Tad. "Did you see him kick when Juan tossed a
+tomato can against his heels this morning ? Kicked the can clear
+over a tree and out of sight."</p>
+
+<p>"He'd make a good batter for the Chillicothe baseball team,"
+suggested Chunky. "He'd be the only real batter in the nine. They
+could turn him loose on the umpire when they didn't need him on
+the diamond. Wouldn't it be funny to see some umpires kicked over
+the high board fence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come along if you are going with me."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy swung into his saddle, and, galloping off, caught up
+with Tad, who was in a hurry to get back to camp before dark.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep your eyes to the right, Chunky, and I'll look on the
+left. If you see anything that looks like a lazy Mexican and a
+lazy burro, just call out."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll run over them, that's what I'll do," declared the fat
+boy. "Hello, there's a fellow on horseback."</p>
+
+<p>"I see him."</p>
+
+<p>The lads changed their course a little so as to head off the
+solitary horseman, who was loping along in something of a
+hurry.</p>
+
+<p>"Howdy," greeted the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"Evening, stranger. Where you hail from and where to?"</p>
+
+<p>"We're in camp back here. I'm looking for our guide, a Mexican
+named Juan. He went away this morning and we haven't seen him
+since."</p>
+
+<p>"And you won't so long as his money holds out," laughed the
+horseman.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, you've seen him? Will you tell me where I may find
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure thing, boy, but I reckon you'd better not be going any
+further?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's over yonder, gambling with some renegade Apaches."</p>
+
+<p>"Apaches!" exclaimed the lads in one voice. "Those must be the
+same fellows we saw up in the range. But how do you suppose he
+knew they were over there?"</p>
+
+<p>"He? Those Greasers know everything except what they ought to
+know&mdash;especially if there's any games of chance going
+on."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please tell me how we can reach the place? We want
+to make a very early start in the morning, and I don't like to
+take a chance of his not getting back in time."</p>
+
+<p>"If ye're bound to go, keep right along the edge of the
+foothills. You can't miss the place. Better keep away if you
+don't want to be getting into a mix-up. There's going to be
+lively doings over there pretty soon," warned the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean? I've seen Indians before. Guess they won't
+hurt us if they let Juan pow-wow with them."</p>
+
+<p>"This is different, young man. They're going to hold a fire
+dance to-night&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A fire dance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought they weren't allowed to do that any more?"</p>
+
+<p>"They ain't, but they will. There's a bunch of Sabobas from
+over the line. They're the original fire eaters. They come over
+here kind of secret like. Then there's Pueblos, 'Paches, and bad
+ones from every tribe within a hundred miles of here. Been making
+smoke signals from the mountains for more'n a week
+past&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw that yesterday and thought it was intended as a
+signal."</p>
+
+<p>"Right."</p>
+
+<p>"But you don't think there will be any danger in just going
+after our guide, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Boy, they'll be letting blood before morning, even if the
+Government doesn't drop down on the picnic and clean out the
+whole bunch of them. There is sure to be trouble before
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Tad, touching his pony;</p>
+
+<p>"Going on?" questioned the horseman.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I'm going to fetch Juan," replied Tad, touching spurs to
+his pony and galloping away, followed by Stacy Brown.</p>
+
+<p>The horseman sat his saddle watching the receding forms of the
+two Pony Rider Boys until they disappeared behind a butte in the
+foothills.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if those kids ain't got the sand!" he muttered.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V</h3>
+
+<h4>A DARING ACT</h4>
+
+<p>"If you don't want to go with me you may go back, Chunky.
+Perhaps one would not be as likely to get into trouble as two.
+You can find your way, can't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I go back? Think I'm a tenderfoot? Huh! Guess I ain't afraid
+of any cheap Wild West Indians. I'm going with you, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; but see to it that you keep in the background. You
+have a habit of getting into trouble on the slightest
+provocation."</p>
+
+<p>"So do you," retorted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>The ponies had been urged to their best pace by this time.
+Twilight had fallen and darkness would settle over them in a very
+short time now, though a new moon hovered pale and weak in the
+blue sky above. Tad knew this, so he did not worry about the
+return trip.</p>
+
+<p>"We should be sighting the place pretty soon," he
+muttered.</p>
+
+<p>"I see a light," announced Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the right. Over that low butte there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's so. I see it now. You have sharp eyes," laughed
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I can see when there's anything to see."</p>
+
+<p>"And eat when there's food to be had," added Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Think those are the Indians that wanted to shoot us, Tad?" he
+asked, with a trace of apprehension in his voice.</p>
+
+<p>Tad glanced at his companion keenly;</p>
+
+<p>"Getting cold feet, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"No!" roared the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," grinned Tad. "I didn't mean to insult
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Better not. Look out that you don't get chilblains on your
+own feet. May need a hot mustard bath yourself before you get
+through."</p>
+
+<p>They rounded the butte. A full quarter of a mile ahead of them
+flickered a large fire, with several smaller blazes twinkling
+here and there about it. Shadowy figures were observed moving
+back and forth, some with rapid movements, others in slow,
+methodical steps.</p>
+
+<p>"There must be a lot of them, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"Looks that way. I wonder where we shall find the guide."</p>
+
+<p>Both boys fell silent for a time, and as they drew nearer to
+the scene pulled their ponies down to a walk. Tad concluded to
+make a detour half way round the camp in order to get a clump of
+bushes that he had observed between them and the redskins. From
+that point of vantage he would be able to get a closer view, and
+perhaps locate the man for whom he was looking.</p>
+
+<p>Riding in, they were soon swallowed up in the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold my pony a moment," directed Tad, slipping to the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nowhere, just this minute. I'm going to look around."</p>
+
+<p>The lad peered through the bushes until, uttering a low
+exclamation, he turned to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"I see him. He's over on the other side&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who? Juan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Now I want you to remain right here. Don't move away.
+I'll tie my pony so he won't give you any trouble. Sit perfectly
+quiet, and if any Indians come along don't bother them. I'm going
+around the outside, so I don't have to pass through the crowd,
+though they seem too busy to notice anyone."</p>
+
+<p>Tad slipped away in the shadows until he came to a spot
+opposite where he had caught a glimpse of the lazy Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>He discovered Juan in the center of a circle of dusky Indians
+who were squatting on the ground. Some of the braves were clothed
+in nondescript garments, while others were attired in gaudy
+blankets. These were the gamblers.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment their efforts were concentrated on winning from
+Juan the wages of his first week's work with the Pony Rider Boys.
+A blanket had been spread over the ground, and on this they were
+wagering small amounts on the throw of the dice, a flickering
+camp-fire near by dimly lighting up the blanket and making the
+reading of the dice a difficult matter for any but the keenest of
+eyes. The sing-song calls of the players added to the weirdness
+of the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Tad waited long enough to observe that the guide lost nearly
+every time, the stolid-faced red men raking in his coins with
+painful regularity.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a wonder he has a cent left. But they're not playing for
+very large amounts, as near as I can tell."</p>
+
+<p>Each time the Mexican lost he would utter a shrill "si, si,"
+then lured by the hope that Dame Fortune would favor him, reached
+greedily for the next throw.</p>
+
+<p>"It's time for me to do something," muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Stepping boldly from his cover, he walked up to the edge of
+the circle.</p>
+
+<p>"Juan!" he called sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Si," answered the Mexican, without looking up.</p>
+
+<p>"Juan!"</p>
+
+<p>This time the word was uttered in a more commanding voice.</p>
+
+<p>"You come with me!"</p>
+
+<p>The guide, oblivious to all beyond the terrible fascination of
+the game he was playing, gave no heed to Tad Butler's stern
+command. Three times did Tad call to him, but without result. One
+of the red men cast an angry glance in the Tad's direction, and
+then returned to his play.</p>
+
+<p>Without an instant's hesitation, Tad sprang over into the
+center of the circle, and grasping Juan by an ear, jerked him to
+his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Red hands fell to belts and dark faces scowled menacingly at
+the intruder.</p>
+
+<p>"You come with me, Juan!"</p>
+
+<p>Juan sought to jerk away, but under the strong pull on his
+ear, he did not find it advisable to force himself from his
+captor's grip.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You're lucky if
+Professor Zepplin doesn't give you another dose of hot drops for
+this. I suppose these Indians sat down to rob you," growled
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no," protested Juan.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the Indian gamblers had leaped to their feet, an
+ugly light in their eyes that boded ill for the Pony Rider Boy
+who had interrupted them in the process of fleecing the
+Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>With one accord they barred the way in a solid human wall. Tad
+found himself hemmed in on all sides. It had been easy to gain an
+entrance to the circle, but getting out of it was another
+matter.</p>
+
+<p>"This man belongs to me," he said with as much courage in his
+tone as he was able to command. "You will please step aside and
+let us go. You're breaking the law. If you offer any resistance
+I'll have the government officers after you in short order."</p>
+
+<p>He could not have said a worse thing under the circumstances.
+At first they took him for a spy, possibly a Government spy. Now
+they were sure of it, for had not the lad told them so
+himself?</p>
+
+<p>With a growl, one who appeared to be the most important
+personage in the group drew his sheath knife and sprang straight
+at the slender figure of Tad Butler.</p>
+
+<p>Tad acted without an instant's hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>Stepping aside quickly; he cleverly avoided the knife-thrust.
+At the same instant, while the Indian was off his balance, not
+yet having recovered from the lunge, the Pony Rider Boy's fist
+and the Indian's jaw met in sudden collision.</p>
+
+<p>The impact of the blow might have been heard more than a rod
+away.</p>
+
+<p>The red man's blanket dropped from his shoulders; he staggered
+backward, made a supreme effort to pull himself together, then
+dropped in a heap at the feet of the boy who had felled him.</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting for the astonished red gamblers to recover
+their wits, Tad grasped an arm of the Mexican and sprang away
+into the bushes.</p>
+
+<p>He had done a serious thing, even though in self-protection.
+He had knocked down an Apache brave with his fist. The sting of
+that blow would rest upon the savage jaw until the insult was
+wiped out by the victim himself.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI</h3>
+
+<h4>THE FIRE DANCE OF THE RED MEN</h4>
+
+<p>The Indians made a sudden move to pursue the lad who had done
+so daring a thing. One of their number restrained them, pointing
+to the fallen brave, as much as to say, "Revenge is for
+<i>him!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>With a shrug of their shoulders the Indians sank down and
+resumed their game as stoically as before. They gave no further
+heed to the unconscious Apache, who still lay just outside the
+circle where he had been knocked out by Tad's blow.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry! Hurry!" commanded the lad, fairly dragging his
+companion along. "They'll be after us in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>Yet before the minute had elapsed Tad had halted suddenly, his
+wondering eyes fixed upon the scene that was being enacted before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>About a pit of red hot coals, naked save for the breech clouts
+they wore, swayed the bodies of half-a-dozen powerful braves.</p>
+
+<p>They were the fire dancers and Tad was gazing upon a scene
+that probably never will he seen again in this country&mdash;the
+last of the fire dances&mdash;a secret dance of which it was to
+be supposed the Government agents knew nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Back and forth waved the copper-colored line, right up to the
+edge of the pit of glowing coals, uttering a weird chant, which
+was taken up by others who were not in the dance.</p>
+
+<p>The voices of the chanters grew louder, their excitement waxed
+higher, as the thrill of song and dance pulsed through their
+veins.</p>
+
+<p>All at once, Tad was horrified to see one of the dancers leap
+into the air, uttering a mighty shriek. While still clear of the
+ground the dancer's body turned, then he dove head first into the
+bed of hot coals. He was out in an instant.</p>
+
+<p>The chant rose higher as the remaining dancers followed the
+leader into the burning pit and out of it. So quickly did they
+move that they seemed not to feel the heat, and from Tad's point
+of vantage, he was sure that none was burned in the
+slightest.</p>
+
+<p>Juan tried to pull away. But Tad held him in a firm grip.</p>
+
+<p>Now that the dancers had passed through the fire unscathed,
+others followed them, some no more than touching the live coals,
+then bounding out on the other side of the pit; others remaining
+long enough to roll swiftly across the glowing bed.</p>
+
+<p>Excitement was rapidly waxing higher and higher. The red men
+were in a dangerous mood. It boded ill for the paleface who
+sought to interfere with their carnival at this moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Come!" whispered Tad in a low, tense voice. "We've got to get
+out of this mighty quick! Chunky's probably half scared to death,
+too."</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not go far. He had scarcely taken half a dozen steps
+when a frenzied yell, a series of shrill shrieks sounded in the
+air. The sounds seemed to come from all directions at once.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Me not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody's running a pony. I hear it coming. It's headed
+right for that bunch of crazy savages. Probably an Indian gone
+mad."</p>
+
+<p>It was not an Indian who was the cause of this new
+disturbance, as the lad discovered almost immediately
+afterward.</p>
+
+<p>"Yip, yip! Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!"</p>
+
+<p>The yells were uttered in the shrill voice of Stacy Brown.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Chunky!" groaned Tad. "Here's trouble in earnest!"</p>
+
+<p>They never knew just how it happened, and Chunky could not
+tell them, but in all probability the excitement had been too
+much for the fat boy!</p>
+
+<p>He had moved closer when the dancing began, and the fever of
+it got into his veins until his excitement had reached a pitch
+beyond his control.</p>
+
+<p>With a series of howls and yells, the fat boy drove the rowels
+of the spurs deep into his pony's aides.</p>
+
+<p>The animal dashed forward at a break-neck pace.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy headed straight for the glowing pit, yelling with every
+leap of the pony.</p>
+
+<p>Tad gazed spellbound. He seemed powerless to move. He had been
+deeply affected by the scenes he had seen; but this was
+different. The lad held his breath.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the edge of the pit, Stacy's pony rose in the air,
+clearing the bed of coals in a long, curving leap.</p>
+
+<p>Two red men had just risen from their fiery bath. The hind
+hoofs of the pony caught and bowled them over.</p>
+
+<p>"Run to the camp and get help! Take my pony! Ride for your
+life! Don't lose a second!" gasped Tad, giving the lazy Mexican a
+shove that sent him stumbling until he had measured his length
+upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Juan picked himself up slowly; and, crawling away into the
+bushes, lay down to rest or hide.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's pony landed fairly in the center of a bunch of
+half-clothed savages; some of whom went down under the pony when
+it landed on them so unexpectedly.</p>
+
+<p>The next instant the fat boy had been jerked from the animal's
+back, to which he was clinging desperately.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell the redskins hurled him toward the fire. But the
+force of the throw had not been quite strong enough. Stacy landed
+on the edge of the pit, rolling half into it, the upper part of
+his body being on the ground to which he was hanging, yelling
+lustily. His shod feet were in the fire, however, but as yet he
+did not realize that his clothes were burning.</p>
+
+<p>Tad Butler sprang quickly from his hiding place.</p>
+
+<p>"Crawl out!" he roared. "You'll be burned alive!"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I can't. I fell in," piped Stacy, all his bravery
+gone now.</p>
+
+<p>Tad leaped across the intervening space and bounded to the
+side of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch! I'm on fire!" shrieked Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>Tad grabbed and hauled him from his dangerous position. One of
+Tad's feet slipped in while he was doing so. By this time the
+clothes of both lads had begun to smoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Run for it! Better be burned than scalped!" shouted Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Holding to Chunky's arm the Pony Rider Boy started to run. He
+was tripped by a moccasined foot before they had gone ten feet.
+Both boys fell headlong. Ere they could rise half a dozen mad
+savages were upon them.</p>
+
+<p>The lads were jerked roughly to their feet, Chunky shivering,
+Tad pale but resolute. There was nothing that he could say or do
+to repair the damage that his companion had done.</p>
+
+<p>One whom the lad took to be a chief, from his head-dress and
+commanding appearance, pushed his way into the crowd about the
+two boys, hurling the red men aside with reckless sweeps of his
+powerful arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh!" he grunted, folding his arms and gazing sternly at the
+two prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>"Who you?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad explained as best he could.</p>
+
+<p>"Why you do this?"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend here got excited," Tad declared.</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! Lie!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad's face burned. He could scarcely resist the impulse to
+resent the imputation that the savage had cast upon him. He
+conquered the inclination with an effort.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, we had no wish to interfere with you. We came here to
+get one of our men who had come here to gamble. If you will
+release us we will return to our camp and give you no further
+trouble. I promise you that."</p>
+
+<p>"T-h-h-h-at's so," chattered Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still," whispered Tad. "You'll get us into more
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>The chief appeared to be debating the question in his own
+mind, when one of the men, whom Tad recognized as a member of the
+gambling circle, whispered something to the chief.</p>
+
+<p>The chief's eyes blazed. Uttering a succession of gutteral
+sounds, he gave some quick directions to the red men near
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"He makes a noise like a litter of pigs," muttered Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>Acting upon the chief's direction two braves grabbed the lads,
+and hurried them away, Tad meanwhile watching for an opportunity
+to break away. Had he been alone, he felt sure he could do so
+safely. But he would not leave his companion, of course.</p>
+
+<p>The Apaches took the boys a short distance from the camp,
+planked them down roughly with their backs to a rock.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I wonder what next?" muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>While one of the braves stood guard over them, the second
+trotted back to the camp, returning after a few minutes with a
+third savage who carried a rifle.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were sure then that they were to be shot.</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! You run, brave shoot um!" warned one of the first pair,
+after which parting injunction the two captors strode away,
+leaving their companion to guard the boys.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments the Indian walked up and down in front of
+them, keeping his eyes fixed on the lads. Tad noted that he
+walked rather unsteadily. Finally, the guard sat down facing
+them, some ten feet away.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've certainly gone and done it this time, Chunky,"
+said Tad in a low voice. "What on earth made you do a crazy thing
+like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's too late for regrets. All we can do will be to
+make the best of our situation and watch for an opportunity to
+get away."</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes the boys sat gazing at the stolid figure
+before them. Tad's mind was working, though his body was not.</p>
+
+<p>"Make believe you're going to sleep, but don't overdo it,"
+whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>This was something that Stacy could do, and he did it with
+such naturalness that Tad could not repress a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"That Indian is dazed from his excitement, and if we make him
+think we're asleep he's likely to relax his vigilance," mused
+Tad, as the two boys gradually leaned closer together, soon to
+all appearances being wrapped in sleep. Little by little the
+Indian's head nodded.</p>
+
+<p>Finally he toppled over to one side, the rifle lying across
+his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Tad and Chunky remained motionless.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian snored.</p>
+
+<p>The boys waited. Soon the snores became regular. The moment
+for action had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>Tad pinched Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! Wat'cher want?"</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy had in reality been asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness sake, keep quiet!" begged Tad in a whisper.
+"Don't you know there's an Indian with a gun guarding us? He's
+asleep. Come, but be quiet if you value your life at all. Anyway;
+remember that I want to save mine."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy was wide awake now. Together the lads crawled cautiously
+away, every nerve on the alert. Over by the pit of live coals the
+uproar was, if any thing, louder than before.</p>
+
+<p>The boys gave that part of the camp a wide berth.</p>
+
+<p>"Now get up and run!" commanded Tad. "Raise your feet off the
+ground, so that you won't fall over every pebble you come
+to."</p>
+
+<p>Tad and Chunky clasped hands and scurried through the bushes,
+making as little noise as possible, and rapidly putting
+considerable distance between them and the sleeping red man who
+had been set to watch them.</p>
+
+<p>"Having lots of fun, ain't we, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fun! You're lucky if you get off with a whole
+scalp&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" exclaimed Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>The lads brought up suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>At first they were not sure what had disturbed them, that is,
+Tad was not. This time Stacy had seen more clearly than his
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh!" grunted a voice right in front of them, and there
+before their amazed eyes stood an Indian. To their imaginations,
+he was magnified until he appeared nearly as tall as the moonlit
+mountains in the background.</p>
+
+<p>For one hesitating instant the lads stood staring at the
+figure looming over them.</p>
+
+<p>With an angry growl the red man bounded toward them. He had
+recognized the boys and was determined that they should not
+escape him.</p>
+
+<p>It was Stacy Brown's wits that saved the situation this time.
+As the Indian came at them the fat boy dived between the savage's
+naked legs, uttering a short, sharp yelp, for all the world just
+like that of a small dog attempting to frighten off a bigger
+antagonist.</p>
+
+<p>There could be only one result following Chunky's unexpected
+tactics. Mr. Redskin flattened himself on the ground prone upon
+his face. Somehow the fellow was slightly stunned by the fall,
+not having had time to save himself from a violent bump on the
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Run for it, Chunky! He'll be after us in a second."</p>
+
+<p>The lads made a lively sprint for the open. In a moment,
+observing that they were not being followed, they halted, still
+in the shadows of the bushes. All at once Tad stumbled over an
+object in the dark. At first he thought it was another Indian,
+and both boys were about to run again, when the voice of the
+prostrate man caused them to laugh instead.</p>
+
+<p>"Si, si, se&ntilde;or," muttered the fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"Juan? It's Juan! Get up! You here yet?"</p>
+
+<p>They pulled the lazy guide to his feet, starting off with him,
+when all at once Tad happened to think that one of the ponies was
+back there somewhere among the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>"You stay here, and don't make a fool of yourself this time!"
+commanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"After your pony. You hang on to Juan. I'll hold you
+responsible for him, Chunky."</p>
+
+<p>"Guess I can take care of a lazy Mexican if I can floor a
+redskin," answered Stacy proudly.</p>
+
+<p>But Tad was off. He had not heard the last remark of his
+companion. In picking his way carefully around the camp to where
+he had seen a lot of ponies tethered, Tad found a Navajo blanket.
+He quickly possessed himself of it, throwing it over his head,
+wrapping himself in its folds.</p>
+
+<p>He was now in plain sight of the wild antics of the dancers,
+who, still mad with the excitement of the hour, were performing
+all manner of weird movements. For a moment, the lad squatted
+down to watch them. He had been there but a short time when a
+voice at his side startled him, and Tad was about to take a fresh
+sprint when he realized that it was not the voice of a
+savage.</p>
+
+<p>"Young man, you'd better light out of here while you've got
+the chance," said the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Turning sharply, Tad discovered a man, who, like himself, was
+wrapped in a gaudy blanket. He was unable to see the man's face,
+which was hidden under the Navajo.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" demanded the lad sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm an Indian agent. I only got wind of this proposed fire
+dance late this afternoon. These men will all be punished unless
+they return to their reservations peaceably. If they do, they
+will be let go with a warning."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they know you're here?"</p>
+
+<p>"They? Not much," laughed the agent.</p>
+
+<p>"But supposing they ask you a question?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can talk all the different tribal languages represented
+here. You'd better go now. Where are you from?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad explained briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you have had a narrow escape tonight. If they catch you
+again they'll make short work of you."</p>
+
+<p>"They won't catch me. Thank you and good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go that way. Strike straight back; then you will have
+an open course."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going after my companion's pony. I think I know where to
+find it," answered Tad, wrapping the blanket about himself and
+stealing across an open moonlit space without attracting
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian agent watched him curiously for a moment; then he
+rose and followed quickly after Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"That boy is either a fool&mdash;which I don't think&mdash;or
+else he doesn't know the meaning of the word 'fear.'"</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not find Stacy's pony where he had expected. Indian
+ponies were tethered all about, singly and in groups, while here
+and there one was left to graze where it would.</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of a looking pony is yours?" questioned the agent,
+coming up to him.</p>
+
+<p>"A roan."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I think I know where he is. He was not like the horses
+in this vicinity, which attracted my attention to him."</p>
+
+<p>The agent led the way, in a roundabout course, to the south
+side of the camp, where they began looking over the animals.
+Occasionally a redskin would pass them, but no one gave either
+the slightest heed.</p>
+
+<p>"Here he is," whispered Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"Lead him off. Don't mount just yet."</p>
+
+<p>Tad did as the agent had suggested. But all at once something
+happened. Tad's blanket had dropped from his shoulders, revealing
+him in his true colors. An Indian uttered a yell. Tad sprang into
+his saddle and put spurs to the pony. In a moment more than a
+dozen redskins had mounted and started yelling after him,
+believing he was stealing a pony.</p>
+
+<p>Tad headed away to the south to give his companions a chance
+to get out of the way, and the savages came in full cry after
+him.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII</h3>
+
+<h4>FLEEING FROM THE ENEMY</h4>
+
+<p>A shrill cry was wafted to the boy.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments Tad realized that they were no longer on
+his trail. He knew the cry had been a signal, warning them to
+halt. What he did not know, however, was that the Indian agent
+had been responsible for the signal; that he in all probability
+had saved the boy's life.</p>
+
+<p>The lad, after satisfying himself that the Indians had
+abandoned the chase, at once circled about, coming back to the
+point where he had left Chunky and the Mexican. They were both
+there waiting for him.</p>
+
+<p>"What was all that row?" demanded the fat boy. "We were having
+a little horse race, that's all," grinned Tad grimly; "Hurry
+along, now."</p>
+
+<p>They reached their own camp in safety an hour later. The two
+boys had much to relate, and as the narration proceeded,
+Professor Zepplin shook his head disapprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Young gentlemen, much as I have enjoyed this summer's outing,
+it's a wonder I haven't had nervous prostration long before this.
+It'll be a load off my mind if I get you all back in Chillicothe
+without anything serious happening to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I think," suggested Tad, "that we had better strike camp at
+once and move on. The moon is shining brightly, and Juan ought to
+have no trouble in leading the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that will be an excellent idea. You think they may give
+as further trouble?" questioned the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"They may before morning. They're getting more ugly every
+minute."</p>
+
+<p>"Everything worth while seems to happen when I am not around,"
+protested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Good thing you weren't along," replied Stacy. "You'd been
+scared stiff. It was no place for tenderfeet."</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you call me a tenderfoot?" snapped Ned, starting
+for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop quarreling, you two!" commanded Tad. "We've had all the
+fighting we want for one night. Get busy and help strike this
+camp. Guess none of this outfit could truthfully be called a
+tenderfoot. We've all had our share of hard knocks, and we'll
+have enough to look back to and think about when we get home and
+have time to go over our experiences together this winter."</p>
+
+<p>The thought, that at any minute the half-crazed savages might
+sweep down on them hastened the preparations for departure. The
+Pony Rider Boys never struck camp more quickly than they did in
+the soft southern moonlight that night.</p>
+
+<p>All at once Juan set up a wail.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it&mdash;what's the trouble now?" demanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"My burro. I go for him."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll do nothing of the sort. You'll walk, or ride a pack
+animal," answered Stacy. "You don't deserve to have a burro."</p>
+
+<p>"Here's his old burro now," called Walter, as a shambling
+object, much the worse for wear, came stumbling sleepily into
+camp.</p>
+
+<p>The boys set up a shout that was quickly checked by Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"If the burro can find the way what do you think an Indian
+could do, fellows?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," agreed Professor Zepplin. "We had better keep
+quiet&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And hit the trail as fast as possible," added Tad. "Daylight
+must find us a long ways from here."</p>
+
+<p>"And ride all night&mdash;is that what you mean?" complained
+Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it'll give you an appetite for breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got one already."</p>
+
+<p>"That goes without saying," agreed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, Juan!" urged Tad, observing that the guide was
+doing nothing more in the way of work than rubbing the nose of
+his prodigal burro. "Aren't you going to help us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; what do you think we're paying you good American dollars
+for?" demanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I think some of the Professor's hot drops would be good for
+what ails him," observed Stacy Brown. "I'll get the Professor to
+give him a dose right now."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no! Juan no want fire drops."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; get busy, then."</p>
+
+<p>He did. Not since the last dose of the Professor's medicine
+had he shown such activity. Very soon after that the camp had
+been struck and the party was ready to take up its journey.</p>
+
+<p>Tad took a last look about, to make sure that nothing had been
+left.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll put out the fire," he said, tossing the bridle
+reins to Stacy, while he ran over to the dying camp-fire, whose
+embers he kicked apart, stamping them out one by one. "No use
+leaving a trail like that for any prowling redskin."</p>
+
+<p>They were quickly under way after that, Juan leading the way
+without the least hesitancy. He and the burro worked together
+like a piece of automatic machinery.</p>
+
+<p>"He might better walk and lead the burro," said Stacy, who had
+been observing their peculiar method of locomotion. "Should think
+it would be easier."</p>
+
+<p>The moon was dropping slowly westward, and the party was using
+it for a guide, keeping the silver ball sharply to their right.
+Juan on the other hand had hitched his lazy chariot to a
+star.</p>
+
+<p>By this star he was laying his course to the southward. The
+Pony Rider Boys enjoyed their moonlight trip immensely; and a
+gentle breeze from the desert drifting over them relieved the
+scorching heat of the late afternoon and early evening.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess the Indians are not going to bother us," said Walter,
+riding up to Tad just before daylight.</p>
+
+<p>"Probably not. They will be in too much trouble with the
+Government, after last night's performances, to give much thought
+to chasing us. And besides, I don't see why they should wish to
+do so. Had they been very anxious to be revenged on us, most
+likely they would not have allowed us to get away as they
+did."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it very terrible, Tad?" asked Walter Perkins.</p>
+
+<p>"What, the dance, or what happened afterwards?" laughed the
+lad.</p>
+
+<p>"Both?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm free to confess that neither was exactly pleasant.
+When they caught Chunky I thought it was all up with us. Hello.
+There's Mr. Daylight."</p>
+
+<p>Glancing to the left the boys saw the sky turning to gray. A
+buzzard screamed overhead, laying its course for the mountains
+where it was journeying in search of food.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" demanded Stacy, awakening from a doze in his
+saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"Friend of yours with an appetite," grinned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it sounded like breakfast call," muttered Stacy,
+relapsing into sleep again, his head drooping forward until, a
+few minutes later, he was lying over the saddle pommel with arms
+thrown loosely about the pony's neck</p>
+
+<p>Ned, observing the lad's position, suddenly conceived a
+mischievous plan. Unnoticed by the others, he permitted his own
+pony to fall back until he was a short distance behind Stacy. The
+others were a little way ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Ned rode slowly alongside his companion, as he passed,
+bringing the rowel of his spur sharply against the withers of
+Chunky's mount.</p>
+
+<p>The effect was instantaneous.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy's mount, itself half asleep, suddenly humped its
+back, and with bunching feet leaped clear of the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, what's the matter back there?" called Ned, who by this
+time was a full rod in advance of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy did not answer. He was at that moment turning an
+undignified somersault in the air, his pony standing meekly,
+awaiting the next act in the little drama.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy landed on the plain in a heap.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you hurt, Chunky?" cried Tad anxiously, slipping from his
+saddle and running to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I dunno, I&mdash;I fell off, didn't I?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're off, at least," grinned Ned. "What was the
+matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I dunno; do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"How should I know? If you will go to sleep an a bucking
+broncho, you must expect things to happen."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy, by this time, had scrambled to his feet; after which,
+he began a careful inventory of himself to make sure that he was
+all there. He grinned sheepishly.</p>
+
+<p>Satisfying himself on this point, Stacy shrugged his shoulders
+and walked over to his pony with a suggestion of a limp.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that we have halted we might as well make camp for a few
+hours, get breakfast and take a nap," suggested the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>The boys welcomed this proposition gratefully, for they were
+beginning to feel the effects of their long night ride, added to
+which, two of them had had a series of trying experiences before
+starting out.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, Stacy Brown had been examining his pony with
+more than usual care.</p>
+
+<p>Tad observed his action, and wondered at it. A moment later,
+the fat boy having moved away; Tad thought he would take a look
+at the animal. He was curious to know what Stacy had in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"So that's it, is it?" muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>He found the mark of a spur on the pony's withers. While it
+had not punctured the skin, the spur had raked the coat, showing
+that the rowel had been applied with considerable force.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, with a covert glance about, saw Ned Rector watching
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"You're the guilty one, eh?" he demanded, walking up to
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"S-h-h-h," cautioned Ned. "He'll be redheaded if he knows I am
+to blame for his coming a cropper."</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky's not so slow as you might think. But that wasn't a
+nice thing to do. It's all right to play tricks, but I hope you
+won't be so cruel as to use a spur on a dumb animal, the way you
+did, even if he is an ill-tempered broncho. You might have broken
+Chunky's neck, too."</p>
+
+<p>Ned's face flushed.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a mean trick, I'll admit. Didn't strike me so at the
+time. Shall I ask Chunky's pardon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do as you think best. I should, were I in your place."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, I will after breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>Ned got busy at once, assisting to cook the morning meal,
+while Juan led the ponies out to a patch of grass and staked them
+down. While the Pony Rider cook was thus engaged, he felt a tug
+at his coat sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>Turning sharply, Ned found Stacy at his side. Stacy's face was
+flushed and his eyes were snapping.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come over here, I want to talk with you."</p>
+
+<p>They stepped off a few paces out of hearing of the others, Tad
+smiling to himself as he observed Stacy's act.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's the matter, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can lick you, Ned Rector!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wha&mdash;what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Said I could lick you. Didn't say I was going to, understand.
+Just said I could&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Like to see you try it."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; it's a go."</p>
+
+<p>Ere Ned could recover from his surprise, Stacy Brown had
+launched himself upon his companion. One of Stacy's arms went
+about Ned's neck, one foot kicked a leg from under Ned, and the
+two lads went down in the dust together.</p>
+
+<p>It had happened in a twinkling.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here! What's going on over there?" shouted the
+Professor, starting on a run, while the other lads were
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky was sitting on the chest of his fallen adversary, Ned
+struggling desperately to throw the lad off.</p>
+
+<p>"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" crowed Chunky, in imitation of a rooster,
+flapping his hands on his thighs, in great good humor with
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin grabbed him by the collar, jerking Stacy
+Brown from the fallen Pony Rider Boy.</p>
+
+<p>Ned scrambled to his feet, and, with a sheepish grin on his
+face, proceeded to brush the dust from his clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"Downed you, did he?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't fair. I didn't know he was going to try."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither did the Russians when the Japs sailed into them at
+Port Arthur," laughed Walter. "And they got what was coming to
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"So did I. Chunky, I deserve more than you gave me. If you
+want to, beat me up some more."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, isn't that sweet of him?" chortled Stacy. "I fell off my
+pony, then I fell on you, and we'll call it quits, eh, Ned?"</p>
+
+<p>Ned put out a hand, which Stacy grasped with mock
+enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>"We sure will."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to know what this is all about?" questioned Walter.
+"Something's been going on."</p>
+
+<p>"I made his pony throw him over," admitted Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy nodded with emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"He found it out and jumped on me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll turn you both over my knee if you try to repeat these
+performances," warned the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>Linking arms, Stacy and Ned started for the breakfast table,
+humming,</p>
+
+<p>"For he's a jolly good fellow,"</p>
+
+<p>and a moment later all four of the lads were standing about
+the breakfast table, singing the chorus at the top of their
+voices.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII</h3>
+
+<h4>ASLEEP ON THE SLEEPY GRASS</h4>
+
+<p>The slanting rays of the sun got into the eyes of the Pony
+Rider Boys. Four arms were thrown over as many pairs of eyes to
+shut out the blinding light.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho-ho-hum!" yawned Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>Cocking an impish eye at his companions, he observed that each
+had fallen into a deep sleep again.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy cautiously gathered up a handful of dry sand and
+hurled it into the air. A shower of it sprinkled over them, into
+their eyes and half-opened mouths.</p>
+
+<p>Three pairs of eyes were opened, then closed again.</p>
+
+<p>Encouraged by his success, Stacy chuckled softly to himself,
+then dumped another handful of sand over his companions.</p>
+
+<p>But he was not prepared for what followed.</p>
+
+<p>Three muscular boys hurled themselves upon him. Instantly the
+peaceful scene was changed into a pandemonium of yells. Down came
+the tent poles, the canvas rising and falling as if imbued with
+sudden life.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin, startled by the racket, roused himself and
+sprang from his own tent. Observing the erratic actions of the
+tent in which the boys had been sleeping, he instantly concluded
+that something serious had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys! boys!" he cried, running to the spot, frantically
+hauling away the canvas. "What has happened? What has
+happened?"</p>
+
+<p>They were too busy to answer him. When finally he had
+uncovered what lay below, he found his charges literally tied up
+in a knot, rolling and tumbling, with Stacy Brown lying flat on
+his back, each of his three companions vigorously rubbing
+handfuls of sand over his face, down his neck and in the hair of
+his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll take a hand in this myself," smiled the
+Professor. He ran to his tent, returning quickly. In his hands he
+carried two pails of water.</p>
+
+<p>Unluckily for the boys, they had failed to observe what he was
+doing. Nor did they understand that they were in danger until the
+contents of the two pails had been dashed over them.</p>
+
+<p>There were yells in earnest this time. The water turned the
+dirt into mud at once, and their faces were "sights." Stacy's
+face had been protected, in a measure, by the other boys who were
+bending over him rubbing in the sand.</p>
+
+<p>The unexpected bath put a sudden end to their sport, and they
+staggered out shouting for vengeance. They did not even know who
+had been the cause of their undoing.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor, as he walked away smiling, had handed the pails
+to the grinning Juan with instructions to refill them.</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate Juan, bearing the pails away, was the first
+person to catch the eyes of the lads, as they rubbed the sticky
+mud out of them.</p>
+
+<p>With a howl they projected themselves upon him. Juan's grin
+changed instantly to an expression of great concern. He went down
+under their charge, with four boys, instead of three, on top of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Duck him!" shouted some one.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! Douse him in the spring!" chorused the boys.</p>
+
+<p>Juan cried out for the Professor, but his appeals were in
+vain.</p>
+
+<p>Shouting in high glee the lads bore him to the spring from
+which they got their water. They plumped him in, not any too
+gently, again and again.</p>
+
+<p>"Now roll him in the sand," suggested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>They did so.</p>
+
+<p>The wet clothing and body made the sand stick to him until the
+lazy Mexican was scarcely recognizable.</p>
+
+<p>At this point Professor Zepplin took a hand. He came bounding
+to the scene and began throwing the boys roughly from their
+unhappy victim. Perhaps be was not greatly disturbed over the
+shaking up the guide had sustained, but of course he confided
+nothing of this to the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves&mdash;for four of you
+to pitch on to one weak Mexican! I'm surprised, young
+gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but&mdash;he ducked us," protested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"He did nothing of the sort."</p>
+
+<p>"What&mdash;didn't duck us? Guess I know water when I feel
+it," objected Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"You were ducked, all right, but it is I, not Juan, who am
+responsible for that."</p>
+
+<p>"You?" questioned the lads all at once.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor nodded, a broad grin on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"But he had the pails."</p>
+
+<p>"I gave them to him, after pouring the water over you. That's
+what is known as circumstantial evidence, young gentlemen. Let it
+be a lesson to you to be careful how you convict anyone on that
+kind of evidence."</p>
+
+<p>"Fellows," glowed Chunky, "we've made a mistake. Let's make it
+right by ducking the Professor."</p>
+
+<p>The boys looked over Professor Zepplin critically.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we'd better defer that job till we grow some more,"
+they decided, with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>The next fifteen minutes were fully occupied in cleaning up
+and putting on their clothes. They were all thoroughly awake now,
+with cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling after their violent
+exercise. The guide had rather sullenly washed off the wet dust
+that clung to his face and hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind the clothes, Juan," advised Ned. "It'll brush off
+as soon as it gets dry. We'll take up a contribution to buy you a
+clothes brush. Ever see one?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan grinned.</p>
+
+<p>"You promise not to gamble the money away if we give it to
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Shell out, fellows. Ten cents apiece. That ought to salve his
+injured feelings."</p>
+
+<p>Ned passed the hat, all contributing.</p>
+
+<p>"That makes forty cents. Here, Professor, you haven't put in
+your ten yet. It'll take just fifty cents to paste up Juan's
+injuries."</p>
+
+<p>"That reminds me of a fellow I heard about once," announced
+Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to tell a story?" questioned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will keep still long enough," replied Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Then me for the bunch grass. It's like going to a funeral to
+hear Chunky try to tell a story."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him tell it," shouted the lads.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, Chunky. Never mind Ned. He'll laugh when he gets back
+to Chillicothe," jibed Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard of a fellow once&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; you told us that before," jeered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Not the one we ducked in the spring, was it?" grinned
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's telling this story?" demanded Stacy belligerently.</p>
+
+<p>"You are, I guess. I won't interrupt again."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, did I say this fellow was a boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he was&mdash;he's grown up now. He rushed into a drug
+store&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Was anything chasing him?" asked Ned innocently.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy gave no heed to the interruption.</p>
+
+<p>"And he said to the man in the store, 'Please, sir, some
+liniment and some cement?'"</p>
+
+<p>"'What?' asked the clerk all in a muddle. You see, he'd never
+had a prescription like that to fill before. It made him tired,
+'cause he thought the kid was making fun of him."</p>
+
+<p>"'What&mdash;what's the trouble? What do you want liniment and
+cement for?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause,' said the boy to the pill man, ''cause mom hit pop on
+the head with a plate.'"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was silence, then the boys roared. But Ned
+never smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Laugh, laugh! Why don't you laugh?" urged Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Laugh? Huh! I laughed myself almost sick over that a long
+time ago. Read it in an almanac when I was in short
+trousers."</p>
+
+<p>"The ponies! The ponies!" cried Juan, rushing up to them,
+waving his arms, then running his fingers through his long black
+hair until it stood up like the quills of a porcupine.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" queried the Pony Rider Boys in sudden alarm. "What's
+the matter with the ponies?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan pointed to the place where the stock had been tethered
+after they arrived at the camp.</p>
+
+<p>There was not an animal to be seen anywhere on the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone!" gasped the lads, with sinking hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no. There!" stammered the guide.</p>
+
+<p>With one accord the boys ran at top speed to the spot
+indicated by Juan.</p>
+
+<p>There, stretched out in the long grass lay bronchos and
+burros.</p>
+
+<p>"They're dead, the ponies are dead, every one of them!" cried
+the lads aghast.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IX</h3>
+
+<h4>THE MIDNIGHT ALARM</h4>
+
+<p>"What's this, what's this?" demanded the Professor, striding
+up.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look! The ponies are dead!" exclaimed Ned
+excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose could have happened to them?" stammered
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible? What's the meaning of this, guide?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan shrugged his shoulders and showed his white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Tad had hurried to his own pony, and was down
+on his knees examining it. Placing his hands on the animal's
+side, he remained in that position for an instant, then sprang
+up.</p>
+
+<p>"They're not dead, fellows! They're alive!"</p>
+
+<p>"Asleep," grumbled Ned disgustedly.</p>
+
+<p>"But there's something the matter with them. Something has
+happened to the stock," added Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Only a false alarm," nodded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Think so? Try to wake your pony up," advised Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy had already hurried to his own broncho, and now began
+tugging at the bridle rein, with sundry pokes in the animal's
+ribs.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't. He's in a trance," wailed Stacy, considerably
+startled.</p>
+
+<p>That expression came nearer to describing the condition of the
+stock than any other words could have done.</p>
+
+<p>"Guide, what do you know about this?" questioned the
+Professor. "Has some one been tampering with our animals?"</p>
+
+<p>Juan shrugged his shoulders with an air of indifference.</p>
+
+<p>"No bother bronchs."</p>
+
+<p>"Then will you please tell us what is the matter with
+them?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Sleepy grass!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Sleepy grass?" chorused the lads.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they're asleep all right," added Ned. "But whoever
+heard of sleepy grass?"</p>
+
+<p>"He means they're sleeping on the grass," Stacy informed
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I begin to understand," nodded the Professor. "I think I
+know what the trouble is now. The guide is no doubt right."</p>
+
+<p>The boys gathered around him, all curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us about it, Professor. We are very much mystified?"
+said the Pony Riders.</p>
+
+<p>"A long time ago I remember to have read, somewhere, of a
+certain grass in this region that possessed peculiar narcotic
+properties&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What's narcotic?" interrupted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Something that makes you go to sleep when you can't,"
+explained Tad Butler, rather ambiguously.</p>
+
+<p>"When eaten by horses or cattle it is said to put them into
+deep sleep. The Rockefeller Institute, I believe, is already
+making an analytical test of the grass."</p>
+
+<p>"Please talk so I can understand it," begged Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; those words make my head ache," scowled Ned. "Even the
+guide is making up faces in his effort to understand."</p>
+
+<p>"He does understand. He understands only too well. For many
+years this grass has been known. Cows turned out for the day
+would fail to return at night&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To be milked," interjected Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"And an investigation would disclose them sleeping in some
+region, where the sleepy grass grew</p>
+
+<p>And the fat boy hummed:</p>
+
+<p>"Down where the sleepy grass is growing."</p>
+
+<p>"Travelers who have tied out their horses in patches of the
+grass for the night have been unable to continue their journey
+until the animals recovered from their strange sleep. Thus the
+properties of the grass became known."</p>
+
+<p>"Indians use 'em to tame bad bronchos," the guide informed
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Just so."</p>
+
+<p>"But, when will they wake up?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Mebby sun-up to-morrow," answered Juan, glancing up at the
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>"What, sleep twenty-four hours?" demanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Preposterous."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, then, we've got to remain here all the rest of the
+afternoon and night&mdash;is that it?" demanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks that way."</p>
+
+<p>"And you knew about this stuff, Juan?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Si."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you're a nice sort of a guide, I must say."</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to be put off the reservation," threatened Stacy,
+shaking a menacing fist in front of the white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, Tad had gone over to the animals again, and,
+taking them in turn, sought to stir them up. He found he could
+not do so. The ponies' heads would drop to the ground after he
+had lifted and let go of them, just as if the animals were
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>"Gives you a creepy feeling, doesn't it?" shivered Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I should say it does," answered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it, Chunky?" asked Tad, who observed that Stacy
+had something on his mind that he was trying to formulate into
+words.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea, fellows," he exploded.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on to it, then. You may never get another," jeered
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Master Stacy?" asked the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;then&mdash;then&mdash;that's what Juan and his
+burro have been eating all the time. I knew there was something
+the matter with them."</p>
+
+<p>A loud laugh greeted the fat boy's suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess he's about right, at that," grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"A brilliant thought," agreed the Professor. "Boys, I must
+have some of that grass. I shall make some experiments with
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Experiment on Chunky," they shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"No; he sleeps quite well enough as it is," smiled the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"I want some of it too&mdash;no, not to eat," corrected the
+fat boy. "I'll feed it to my aunt's cat when I get back; then he
+won't be running away from home every night."</p>
+
+<p>"Better unload the rest of the equipment, boys," advised the
+Professor. "If we must remain here all night we might as well
+make the best of it."</p>
+
+<p>Without their ponies, the lads spent rather a restless
+afternoon. They had not fully realized before how much a part of
+them their horses had become until they were suddenly deprived of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the bronchos slept on undisturbed.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got another idea," shouted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep it to yourself," growled Ned. "Your ideas, like your
+jokes, graduated a long time ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there sleepy grass in the Catskill Mountains!" persisted
+Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't know, and we don't&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know there is, and that's what put Rip Van Winkle to sleep
+for twenty years," shouted the fat boy in high glee. "See, I know
+more than&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; you're the original boy wonder. We'll take that for
+granted," nodded Ned Rector.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, however, was not inclined to look upon their enforced
+delay with anything like amusement. To him it had its serious
+side. He had not forgotten that they had been fleeing from the
+Indians. When he got an opportunity to do so, without his
+companions overhearing, he approached the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it would be a good plan for us to have a guard over
+our camp to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"On account of?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; I think myself that it would be a prudent move.
+Have Juan sit up, then."</p>
+
+<p>"No, he's a sleepy bead. Suppose we boys take turns?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; arrange it to suit yourselves. I presume we ought
+to do something of the sort every night. It might have saved us
+some trouble on our Ozark journey had we been that prudent.
+Arrange it to suit you. I'll take my turn</p>
+
+<p>"No; we can do it, Professor. You go to bed as usual. We'll
+draw lots to see who takes the different watches. With the four
+of us we'll have to take only two hours apiece. That won't be bad
+at all."</p>
+
+<p>The other boys, after the plan had been explained to them,
+entered into it enthusiastically. Walter was to take the first
+trick, Ned the next, Chunky the third and Tad the fourth.</p>
+
+<p>And they were to take their guns out with them. The Professor
+agreed to this, now that they had become more familiar with
+firearms. As a matter of fact, all the boys had developed into
+excellent marksmen, though Tad was recognized as the best shot of
+the party.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin, during the afternoon, gave each of them a
+lesson in revolver shooting, using for the purpose, his heavy
+army revolver. They did pretty well with this weapon, but, of
+course, were not nearly as expert with it as with the rifle.</p>
+
+<p>Evening came and the stock was still sleeping soundly. There
+was nothing the boys could do but let them sleep, though the fact
+of all the ponies and burros lying about as if dead began to make
+the Pony Riders nervous. Night came, and with it semi-darkness,
+the moon being overcast with a veil of fleecy white clouds, which
+cast a grayish film over the landscape. The lads joked each other
+about having the "creeps," but none would admit the charge.</p>
+
+<p>Walter, with rifle slung over his right shoulder, went out on
+the first watch with instructions to go at least two hundred
+yards from camp and keep walking around the camp in a circle.
+This would protect them from surprises on all sides. Ned decided
+not to retire until he had taken his guard trick, in view of the
+fact that he was to go on at eleven o'clock. But Stacy, proposing
+to get all the sleep he was entitled to, turned in early. The
+rest did not disturb him. The boys were unusually quiet that
+evening, perhaps feeling that the responsibility of the safety of
+the camp rested wholly upon their youthful shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Ned came in at one o'clock, after having taken his turn,
+unslung his rifle, drew the cartridges then put them back in the
+magazine again.</p>
+
+<p>"I might need them before morning," he told himself.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky being sound asleep, Ned grabbed him by a foot giving
+him a violent pull.</p>
+
+<p>"Wat'cher want? Get out!" growled the fat boy sleepily.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up and take your watch!" commanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's afraid of Indians?" mumbled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>This time Ned took the lad by the collar, jerked him to his
+feet and shook him until Stacy yelled "Ouch!" so loudly as to
+awaken the entire camp.</p>
+
+<p>It took some time, however, to get Stacy himself awake
+sufficiently to make him understand that he had a duty to
+perform. Finally, however, he shouldered his rifle, after
+surreptitiously helping himself to a sandwich from the cook tent.
+Then be marched off, munching the bread and meat.</p>
+
+<p>"See here," snapped Ned, running after him. "You're not
+measuring off your distance. Come back and pace it off."</p>
+
+<p>"How many?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two hundred yards. Stretch your fat legs as far as they'll
+go, then you'll have a yard, more or less."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy started all over again, forgot the count, came back,
+then tried it again. Even at that he was not sure whether he had
+gone one hundred yards or five.</p>
+
+<p>He was awake enough, now, to observe his surroundings. The
+cool breezes of the night were tossing the leaves of the
+cottonwoods near the water course to the west of them, while here
+and there in the foliage might be heard the exultant notes of a
+mocking bird.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy shivered.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess it's going to freeze to-night," he decided, beginning
+his steady tramp about the camp of the Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>Muttering to himself, as was his habit when alone, Stacy kept
+on until finding himself opposite the ponies, he decided to go
+over and look at them. All were asleep. Not one had awakened
+since going down under the powerful influence of the "sleepy
+grass."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to eat some of that stuff myself, right now," Chunky
+decided out loud. "I'd have a good excuse for going to sleep
+then. Now I can't without getting jumped on by the fellows.
+Wonder what time it is&mdash;only half-past one. Must be
+something the matter with my watch. I know I've been out more'n
+two hours."</p>
+
+<p>This trip he circled out further from the camp, growing a
+little more confident because nothing had happened to disturb
+him.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the camp slept in peace&mdash;that is, the
+lads did until nearly time for the change of guard. Then the
+whole party was aroused with the sudden, startling conviction
+that something serious had happened.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the crack of a rifle sounded on the still night
+air. It was followed by another shot, and another, until four
+distinct reports had rolled across the plains.</p>
+
+<p>In wild disorder the Pony Rider Boys tumbled from their cots,
+and, grasping their weapons, leaped from the tents.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the row?" inquired the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow! Wow! Wow! Yeow!" shrieked a shrill voice to the
+northward.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Chunky. He's giving the alarm! We're attacked!" cried
+the lads.</p>
+
+<p>Bang ! Bang!</p>
+
+<p>They saw the flash of the fat boy's weapon before the report
+reached their ears.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the other boys caught sight of Stacy dashing
+into camp, hatless, waving his rifle and yelling as if bereft of
+his senses.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it? What is it?" cried the boys with one voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Indians! Indians! The prairie's full of them!"</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X</h3>
+
+<h4>MEETING THE ATTACK</h4>
+
+<p>Instantly the camp was thrown into confusion. The lads ran
+here and there, not knowing what to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Get behind the ponies! That's the only cover we can find
+here. Run for it!"</p>
+
+<p>And run they did, the Professor outdistancing all the rest in
+his attempt to secrete himself where the enemy's weapons would
+not be likely to reach him.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment more, the camp of the Pony Rider Boys was
+deserted, and behind each sleeping pony lay a boy, with rifle
+barrel poked over the animal's back, ready to shoot at the first
+sign of the redskins. Stacy, in his excitement, had forgotten
+that not a cartridge was left in his magazine, and the others
+were too fully occupied to remember to tell him.</p>
+
+<p>For all of half an hour did the party lie protected. The boys
+began to grow restive. Tad's suspicions were being slowly
+aroused.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to do a little scouting," he told them, slipping
+from behind the pony and skulking along back of the tents. The
+moon was shining brightly now. He could see a long distance. Not
+a human being was in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so," he muttered, retracing his steps. "See here,
+Stacy Brown, what did you see&mdash;what did you shoot at?" he
+demanded sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I shot the chute&mdash;I&mdash;I mean I chuted the
+shot&mdash;I mean&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Say, what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I mean&mdash;say, leggo my neck, will you?" roared
+Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Fellows, he doesn't know what he means."</p>
+
+<p>"Guess he's been feeding on crazy grass out on the prairie,"
+was Ned's conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't an Indian anywhere around here. I know it. They
+would have been after us long before this, if there had
+been."</p>
+
+<p>One by one the boys came from their hiding places, the lazy
+Mexican last. Disapproving eyes were turned on Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky, you come along and show us where you were when you
+shot&mdash;did you shoot at an Indian?" asked Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I&mdash;I&mdash;I shot him."</p>
+
+<p>"Show us. We're all from Chillicothe," demanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy, with a show of importance, led the way, keeping a wary
+eye out for the enemy. It was noticed, however, that each of the
+lads held his rifle ready for business in case there should be an
+enemy about.</p>
+
+<p>"There! I was standing right over there&mdash;I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"You guess! Don't you know?" questioned the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's the place."</p>
+
+<p>The lad walked over to the identical spot from which he had
+first fired his rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"He was over there and I shot at him, so," said Stacy,
+leveling the weapon. "Ye-ow! There he is, now!" shrieked the
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>Every weapon flashed up to a level with the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something over there on the ground," decided the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Put down your guns so you don't shoot me," said Tad. "I'm
+going to find out what it is."</p>
+
+<p>Keeping his own weapon held at "ready," the lad walked boldly
+over to where a heap of some sort lay on the plain. It surely had
+not been there during the afternoon&mdash;Tad knew that.</p>
+
+<p>He reached it, stooped, peered, then uttered a yell.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it" they cried, hurrying up.</p>
+
+<p>"You've done it now, Chunky Brown. You certainly have gone and
+done it."</p>
+
+<p>"What&mdash;what is it?" cried the others in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"You've shot the lazy Mexican's burro. That's your Indian,
+Stacy Brown."</p>
+
+<p>Juan, who had followed them out on the plain, uttered a wail
+and threw himself upon the body of his prostrate burro. The
+animal, it seemed, had recovered consciousness during the night,
+and in a half-dazed condition had wandered out on the plain.
+Stacy, while crouching down on the ground, had seen the head and
+long ears of the burro. He thought the ears were part of the head
+dress of a savage and let fly a volley of bullets at it.</p>
+
+<p>"He&mdash;he isn't dead," shouted the fat boy. "See, I just
+pinked him in the ears."</p>
+
+<p>And, surely enough, an examination revealed a hole through
+each ear. The holes were so close to the animal's head that it
+was reasonable to suppose the shot had stunned him, being already
+in a weakened condition from the sleepy grass.</p>
+
+<p>The boys set to work to rouse the burro, which they succeeded
+in doing in a short time. Juan, with arm around the lazy beast's
+neck, led it back to camp, petting and soothing it with a
+chattering that they could not understand.</p>
+
+<p>There was no more sleep in camp that night, though the boys
+turned in at the Professor's suggestion. Every little while,
+laughter would sound in one of the tents, as the others fell to
+discussing Stacy's Indian attack.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning they were overjoyed to find that the ponies
+had awakened and were trying to get up.</p>
+
+<p>"Lead them out of that grass, fellows," shouted Tad, the
+moment he saw the ponies were coming around. "We don't want them
+to make another meal of that stuff"</p>
+
+<p>"Nor take another of Chunky's Rip Van Winkle sleeps," added
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Never having had a like experience, none of the lads knew what
+to do with their mounts after getting them sufficiently awake to
+lead them to a place of safety. They appealed to Juan for advice,
+but the lazy Mexican appeared to know even less than they.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, after studying the question a few moments, decided to
+give them water, though sparingly. This they appeared to relish
+and braced up quite a little. But the boy would not allow them to
+graze until nearly noon, when each one took his pony out, making
+sure that there was none of the sleepy grass around. The animals
+were then permitted to graze.</p>
+
+<p>About the middle of the afternoon Tad decided that all were
+fit to continue the journey, and that it would be safe to travel
+until sunset. Everyone was glad to get away from the spot where
+they had had such unpleasant experiences, and the boys set off,
+moving slowly, the stock not yet being in the best of
+condition.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon, when they had about decided to make
+camp, one of the boys espied an object, something like a quarter
+of a mile away, that looked like the roof of a house.</p>
+
+<p>Ned said it couldn't be that, as it appeared to be resting on
+the ground. They asked Juan if he knew what it was, and for a
+wonder he did. He said it was a dug-out&mdash;a place where a man
+lived.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he a hermit?" asked Stacy apprehensively, at which there
+was a laugh. Stacy had not forgotten his experiences in the cave
+of the hermit of the Nevada Desert.</p>
+
+<p>For the next hour, the lads were too busy, pitching tents and
+unloading the pack animals, to give further thought to the
+dug-out or its occupant; but when, after they had prepared their
+evening meal, they saw some one approaching on horseback, they
+were instantly curious again.</p>
+
+<p>The newcomer proved to be the owner of the dug-out. He was a
+tall, square-jawed man, with a short, cropped iron-gray beard and
+small blue, twinkling eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you join us and have some supper?" asked Tad politely,
+walking out to greet the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; I will, young man," smiled the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Tad introduced himself and companions.</p>
+
+<p>"You probably have heard my name before, young men. It is Kris
+Kringle; I'm living out here for my health and doing a little
+ranching on the side."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy looked his amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Is&mdash;is he Santa Claus?" he whispered, tugging at Tad's
+coat sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>"No, young man. I am not related to the gentleman you refer
+to," grinned Mr. Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>There was a general laugh at Stacy's expense.</p>
+
+<p>After supper, the visitor invited all hands to ride over to
+his dug-out and spend the evening with him. The boys accepted
+gladly, never having seen the inside of a dug-out, and not
+knowing what one looked like. Professor Zepplin had taken a
+sudden liking to the man with the Christmas name, and soon the
+two were engaged in earnest conversation.</p>
+
+<p>The distance being so short, Tad decided that they had better
+walk, leaving the ponies in charge of Juan so they might get a
+full night's rest. Then all hands set out for the dug-out.</p>
+
+<p>A short flight of steps led down into the place, the roof of
+which was raised just far enough above the ground to permit of
+two narrow windows on each side and at the rear end.</p>
+
+<p>The room in which they found themselves, proved to be a
+combination kitchen and dining room. Its neatness and orderliness
+impressed them at once.</p>
+
+<p>"And here," said Kris Kringle, "is what I call my den,"
+throwing open a door leading into a rear room and lighting a
+hanging oil lamp.</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider Boys uttered an exclamation of surprised
+delight.</p>
+
+<p>On a hardwood floor lay a profusion of brightly colored Navajo
+rugs, the walls being hung with others of exquisite workmanship
+and coloring, interspersed with weapons and trophies of the
+chase, while in other parts of the room were rare specimens of
+pottery from ancient adobe houses of the Pueblos.</p>
+
+<p>At the far end of the room was a great fire-place. Book cases,
+home-made, stood about the room, full of books. The Professor
+realized, at once, that they were in the home of a student and a
+collector.</p>
+
+<p>"This is indeed an oasis in the desert," he glowed. "I shall
+be loath to leave here."</p>
+
+<p>"Then don't," smiled Mr. Kringle. "I'm sure I am glad enough
+to have company. Seldom ever see anyone here, except now and then
+a roving band of Indians."</p>
+
+<p>"Indians!" exclaimed Tad. "Do you have any trouble with
+them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they know better than to bother with me much. We have
+had an occasional argument," said their host, his jaws setting
+almost stubbornly for the instant. "Most of the tribes in the
+state are peaceful, though the Apaches are as bad as ever. They
+behave themselves because they have to, not because they wish to
+do so."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw their fire dance the other night," began Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" demanded Mr. Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Fire dance."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about it?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad did so, the host listening with grave face until the
+recital was ended.</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head disapprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"And this&mdash;this Indian that you knocked down&mdash;was he
+an Apache?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I think so, though. He had on a peculiar head
+dress</p>
+
+<p>"That was one of them," interrupted Mr. Kringle, with
+emphasis. "And I'll wager you haven't heard the last of him yet.
+That's an insult which the Apache brave will harbor under his
+copper skin forever. He'll wait for years, but he'll get even if
+he can."</p>
+
+<p>The faces of the Pony Rider Boys were grave.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a reliable guide?"</p>
+
+<p>"Far from it," answered the Professor. "If I knew where I
+could get another, I'd pack him off without ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle was silent for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I need a little change of scene," he smiled. "How would you
+like to have me take the trail with you for a week or so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Would you?" glowed the Professor, half rising from his
+chair.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I might."</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" cried the Pony Riders enthusiastically. "That will
+be fine."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, you understand that I expect no pay. I am going
+because I happen to take a notion to do so. Perhaps I'll be able
+to serve you at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>The Professor grasped Mr. Kringle by the hand impulsively.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll send that lazy Juan on his way this very
+night&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me do it," interposed Stacy, with flushing face. "I'll do
+it right, Professor. But I'll put on my pair of heavy boots
+first, so it'll hurt him more."</p>
+
+<p>The boys shouted with laughter, while the new guide's eyes
+twinkled merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"I think, perhaps, the young man might do it even more
+effectively than you or I," he said. "Have you weapons,
+Professor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rifles."</p>
+
+<p>"That's good. We may need them."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"One can never tell."</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3>
+
+<h4>RIDING WITH KRIS KRINGLE</h4>
+
+<p>A slender ribbon of dust unrolling across the plain far to the
+northward marked the receding trail of Juan and his lazy burro.
+They had given him a week's extra pay and sent him on his
+way.</p>
+
+<p>The burro was making for home, aided by the busy feet of its
+master, while Stacy Brown, shading his eyes with one hand, was
+watching the progress of the guide, whom he had just sent
+adrift.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he's gone," grinned Stacy, turning to his companions,
+who were busy striking camp.</p>
+
+<p>"And a good riddance," nodded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"He'll probably join the Indians and tell them where we are,"
+suggested Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I hadn't thought of that," replied Tad. "Still, if they wish
+to find us they know how without Juan's telling them."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"They can follow a trail with their eyes shut," said Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right. They do not need to be told," muttered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Everything being in readiness, the boys started with their
+outfit for the dug-out, where they were to be joined by Kris
+Kringle. They felt a real relief to know that they were to have
+with them a strong man on whom they were sure they could rely to
+do the right thing under all circumstances. Tad, however,
+believed that Mr. Kringle had decided to join them, fearing they
+would be attacked by the Apaches and come to serious harm. Yet he
+hardly thought the redskins would dare to follow them, after the
+latter had once gotten over the frenzy of their fire dance. By
+that time the Indian agents would have rounded them all up on the
+reservations, where the Indians would be able to do no more harm
+for a while.</p>
+
+<p>After picking up the new guide the start was made. The party
+had water in plenty in the water-bags, so that no effort was made
+to pick up a water hole when they made camp late in the
+afternoon. The guide had brought in his pack a tough old sage
+hen, at which the lads were inclined to jeer when he announced
+his intention of cooking it for their supper.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll change your mind when you taste it, young gentlemen.
+It depends upon the cooking entirely. A sage hen may be a
+delicious morsel, or it may not," answered Mr. Kringle, with a
+grin.</p>
+
+<p>They were encamped near a succession of low-lying buttes, and
+to while away the time until the supper hour, the boys strolled
+away singly to stretch their legs on the plain after the long
+day's ride in the hot sun.</p>
+
+<p>When they returned an hour or so later, Stacy, they observed,
+was swinging a curious forked stick that he had picked up
+somewhere a few moments ago.</p>
+
+<p>"What you got there?" questioned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't know. Picked it up on the plain. Such a funny looking
+thing, that I brought it along."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see it," asked Mr. Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy handed it to him.</p>
+
+<p>"This," said the guide, turning the stick over in his hand,
+"is a divining rod."</p>
+
+<p>"Divining rod?" demanded Stacy, pressing forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Never heard of it. Is it good to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Looks to me like a wish bone," interjected Ned. "Do you eat
+wish bones, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"Might, if I were hungry enough."</p>
+
+<p>"A divining rod is used to locate springs. Some users of it
+have been very successful. I couldn't find a lake with it, even
+if I fell in first."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," marveled the Professor. "I have heard of the
+remarkable work of divining rods. What Rind of wood is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is hazel wood. Oak, elm, ash or privet also are used,
+but hazel is preferred in this country."</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;then we won't have to go dry any more&mdash;I can
+find water with this when I'm dry?" questioned Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You might; then again you might not."</p>
+
+<p>"Better take it away from him," suggested Ned. "He might find
+a spring. If he did he'd be sure to fall in and drown."</p>
+
+<p>The stick, which was shaped like the letter Y, was an object
+of great interest to the Pony Rider Boys. One by one they took it
+out on the plain, in an effort to locate some water. The guide
+instructed them to hold the Y with the bottom up, one prong in
+each hand and to walk slowly.</p>
+
+<p>But, try as they would, they were able to get no results.</p>
+
+<p>"The thing's a fraud!" exclaimed Ned disgustedly, throwing the
+divining rod away.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy picked it up.</p>
+
+<p>"I know why it doesn't work," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" demanded the other boys.</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause&mdash;'cause there isn't any water to make it work,"
+he replied wisely.</p>
+
+<p>The boys groaned.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after returning to camp, they found the fat boy
+standing over a pail of water holding the stick above it.</p>
+
+<p>He was talking to the stick confidentially, urging it to "do
+something," to the intense amusement of the whole outfit.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, where's your theory?" questioned the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it doesn't have to work, does it? Don't we know there's
+water here? If we didn't the stick would tell us, maybe. Take my
+word for it, this outfit won't have to go dry after this. Stacy
+Brown and his magic wand will find all the water needed,"
+continued the fat boy proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Your logic is good, at any rate, even if the rod doesn't work
+at command," laughed the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>Supper was a jolly affair, for everyone was in high spirits.
+The sage hen, contrary to general expectation, was found to be
+delicious. Chunky begged for the wish bone and got it. He said
+he'd use it for a divining rod when he wanted to find a little
+spring.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Kringle, I am commissioned by the fellows to ask you a
+question," announced Tad, after the meal had been in progress for
+a time.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask it," smiled the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"We thought we'd like to call you Santa Claus, seeing you've
+brought us so much cheer. Then again, it's your name you know.
+Kris Kringle is Santa Claus."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, call me what you please, young men."</p>
+
+<p>From that moment on, Kris Kringle was Santa Claus to the Pony
+Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>They had now come to a rolling country, with here and there
+high buttes, followed by large areas of bottom lands which were
+covered with rank growths of bunch grass. Traveling was more
+difficult than it had been, and water more scarce.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the second day out, after they had been skirmishing
+for water in every direction, that the lads heard the familiar
+yell from Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"There goes the trouble maker," cried Ned. "He's at it
+again."</p>
+
+<p>The guide bounded up, starting on a run for the spot where
+Chunky's wail had been heard. The others were not far behind.</p>
+
+<p>They saw the red, perspiring face of the fat boy above a clump
+of grass, his yells for help continuing, unabated.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" shouted the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got it, Santa Claus! I've got it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Got what?" roared the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"The stick!&mdash;I mean it's got me. Help! Help!"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy was wrestling about as if engaged in combat with some
+enemy. They could not imagine what had gone wrong&mdash;what had
+caused his sudden cries of alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the divining rod!" called the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"He's found water!" shouted the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got it! I've got it! Come help me hold it. The thing's
+jerking my arms off."</p>
+
+<p>To the amazement of the Pony Rider Boys, the forked stick in
+the hands of the fat boy was performing some strange antics.
+Breathing hard, he would force it up until it was nearly upright,
+when all at once the point of the triangle would suddenly swerve
+downward, bending the rod almost to the breaking point.</p>
+
+<p>"See it? See it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most remarkable," breathed Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there can be no doubt about it," nodded the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"He's bluffing," disagreed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't look to me as if he were," returned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Take hold with me here, if you don't believe me," cried
+Stacy. "No, not on the stick, take hold of my wrists."</p>
+
+<p>Ned promptly accepted the invitation.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the tug of the divining rod was felt by the new
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>Ned let go quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh! The thing gives me the creeps."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me try it, Master Stacy," said Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't let go of it," wailed Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Step off a piece," directed the guide.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy did so, whereupon the divining rod immediately ceased
+its peculiar actions.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor took hold of it, but the rod refused to work for
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Let Santa Claus try it," suggested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>The guide did so, but with no more success than the Professor
+had had.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you it wouldn't work for me," Mr. Kringle grinned.
+"Here, Master Tad, you try it."</p>
+
+<p>Tad, with the rod grasped firmly in his hands, walked back and
+forth three times without result. On the fourth attempt, however,
+the stick suddenly bent nearly double.</p>
+
+<p>All were amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Why were we unable to get results, Mr. Kringle?" questioned
+the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"According to some French writers as much depends upon the man
+as on the divining rod. Where one succeeds another fails
+absolutely. Supposing the others take a try?"</p>
+
+<p>Walter and Ned did so, but neither could get the rod to move
+for him.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess Chunky is the champion water-finder," laughed
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it not be a good idea to find out whether or not there
+<i>is</i> water here?" asked the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," agreed the guide. "It may be so far down that we cannot
+reach it, however. You know in some parts of this region they are
+locating water with the rod and sinking artesian wells."</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;why didn't we think to bring some down with us?"
+demanded Chunky. "Can't we get any in some of the towns down
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some what?" questioned the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Artesian wells."</p>
+
+<p>A roar greeted the fat boy's question.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring down a load of artesian wells!" jeered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"An artesian well, my boy, is nothing more than a hole in the
+ground," the guide informed him, much to Chunky's chagrin.</p>
+
+<p>The spot where the divining rod had so suddenly gotten busy
+was about midway of an old water course, covered with a thick
+growth of bunch grass.</p>
+
+<p>"Get some tools, boys," directed the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>Tad ran back to camp, which lay some distance to the east of
+where they were gathered. Searching out a pick and two shovels,
+he leaped on his pony, dashing back to the arroyo.</p>
+
+<p>"That was quickly done," smiled Santa Claus. "Are all of you
+lads as quick on an errand as that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only Chunky," answered Ned solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>The guide began to dig, in which effort he was joined by Stacy
+Brown, who, with a shovel, caved in about as much dirt as he
+threw out.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, give me that shovel," commanded Ned. "You'll fill up
+the bole before we get it dug."</p>
+
+<p>Tad, having tethered his pony, took the extra shovel and went
+to work.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess it's a false alarm," decided Ned, after they were up to
+their shoulders in the hole.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be too sure. The ground is quite damp here. Try your
+rod, young man."</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky held the divining rod over the excavation, whereupon
+it drew down with even greater force than before.</p>
+
+<p>"Dig," directed the guide.</p>
+
+<p>They did so with a will.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's water!" shouted Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>They crowded about the hole, amazement written on every
+face.</p>
+
+<p>A fresh, cool stream bubbled up into the hole, causing those
+in the pit to scramble out hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of you boys run back to camp and fetch pails and
+water-bags," directed the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go. I've got the pony here," spoke up Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I want you to do something else for me."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll all go," offered Walter. The three lads started on a
+run, Chunky holding his precious divining rod tightly clasped in
+both hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it you wish?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would ride over toward that small butte and cut a
+load of brush. Want to rip-rap the outer edge of this water hole,
+so the bank will not cave in and undo all our work! Have you a
+hatchet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, in my saddlebags."</p>
+
+<p>"Good. Hurry, please."</p>
+
+<p>Tad leaped into the saddle, and putting spurs to his broncho,
+tore through the high bunch grass, above which only his head was
+now observable. In a short time he was back with the green stuff
+piled high on the saddle in front of him, with a large bundle
+tied to the cantle of the saddle behind.</p>
+
+<p>Unloading this, Butler started back at a gallop for more. When
+there was work to be done, Tad Butler was happy. Activity to him
+was a tonic that spurred him on to ever greater efforts.</p>
+
+<p>This time he found himself obliged to climb higher up the
+butte in order to get branches of available size. These he cut
+and threw down. After having procured what he thought would be
+all he could carry the lad scrambled down, and, dropping on his
+knees began tying them into bundles. The heat was sweltering, and
+occasionally be paused to wipe away the perspiration.</p>
+
+<p>"I smell smoke," sniffed Tad. "I wonder where it comes
+from?"</p>
+
+<p>The odor grew stronger, but so interested was he in his labor
+that he did not at once understand the significance of his
+discovery.</p>
+
+<p>"W-h-o-o-e-e!"</p>
+
+<p>It was a long-drawn, warning shout.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a signal!" exclaimed the lad, straightening up. "I
+wonder what's the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>As he looked toward the camp a great wall of flame seemed to
+leap from the ground between him and his companions. There it
+poised for one brief instant, then, with a roar swooped down into
+the tall bunch grass, rushing roaring and crackling toward
+him.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant he stood unbelieving, then the truth dawned
+upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"The prairie's on fire!" cried Tad.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII</h3>
+
+<h4>THE DASH FOR LIFE</h4>
+
+<p>The shouts of the Pony Rider Boys and of the guide were
+swallowed up in the roar of the flames."</p>
+
+<p>"They'll be burned alive!" whispered the lad.</p>
+
+<p>Then, all at once he realized that he himself was in dire
+peril.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have to go the other way and be quick about it at that,"
+he decided, making a dash for the pony, that already was
+whinnying with fear and tugging at its tether.</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not wait to untie the stake rope. With a sweep of his
+knife he severed it and vaulted into the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Whirling the animal about he headed to the west. To his alarm
+he suddenly discovered that the prairie fire was rapidly
+encircling him, the flames running around the outer edge of the
+bottoms with express train speed, threatening to head him off and
+envelop him. Had it not been for the long grass, which, tangling
+the feet of the pony, made full speed impossible, the race with
+the flames would have been an easy one to win. As it was, Tad
+knew that the chances were against him.</p>
+
+<p>But the dire peril in which he found himself did not daunt the
+Pony Rider Boy. Perhaps his face had grown a shade paler
+underneath the tan, but that was all. His senses were on the
+alert, his lips met in a firm pressure and the hand gripped the
+bridle rein a little more firmly, perhaps, than usual.</p>
+
+<p>Uttering a shrill cry to inform his companions that be was
+alive to his peril, and at the same time to encourage the
+broncho, Tad dug in the rowels of his spurs.</p>
+
+<p>The frightened pony cleared the ground with all four feet,
+uttering a squeal, and launching itself at the rapidly narrowing
+clear space ahead of him; and urged to greater and greater
+endeavor at every leap by the short, sharp "yips" of his
+rider.</p>
+
+<p>For all the concern that showed in his face, Tad Butler might
+have been running a horse race for a prize rather than fleeing
+for his life.</p>
+
+<p>"If I make it I'm lucky,"&mdash;commented Tad grimly. He found
+himself wondering, at the same time, how the fire had started. He
+knew that the flames first showed themselves midway between where
+he was at work and the place where his companions were engaged at
+the water hole.</p>
+
+<p>He could not understand it. Fire was necessary to use to start
+fire, and he knew that none of them had been foolish enough even
+to light a match in the dry bunch grass of the prairie.</p>
+
+<p>The flames were reaching mountain high by this time, great
+clouds of smoke rolling in on the breeze and nearly suffocating
+him.</p>
+
+<p>At times Tad was unable to see the opening ahead of him. When,
+however, the smoke lifted, giving him a momentary view, he saw
+that the gap was rapidly closing.</p>
+
+<p>All at once his attention was drawn from the closing gap.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeow ! Yeow! Yeow! Y-e-o-w!"</p>
+
+<p>A series of shrill, blood curdling yells from out the pall of
+smoke and flame at the rear, bombarded his ears.</p>
+
+<p>At first he thought it was Indians; then the improbability of
+this being the case came to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeow! Yeow! Yeow!" persisted the voice behind, and it was
+coming nearer every second.</p>
+
+<p>Tad slackened the speed of his pony ever so little, despite
+the peril of his position.</p>
+
+<p>"There's somebody in there behind me, and, he'll never get out
+alive if he loses his way."</p>
+
+<p>The moment this thought occurred to him, Tad began to yell at
+the top of his voice.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly from out the thick veil of smoke burst a pony with a
+mighty snort, coming on in bounds, each one of which cleared many
+feet of ground. On the pony's back was Stacy Brown, hatless,
+coatless, his hair standing up in the breeze, his face as red as
+if it had come in actual contact with the flames.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeow!" he roared, as his pony shot past Tad as if the
+latter's mount were standing still. Where Stacy had come from,
+how he had passed through that wall of flame, Tad had not the
+slightest idea.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact the explanation was simple enough. The
+guide had sent Chunky out to assist Tad in bringing in the
+rip-rapping material. Stacy had made a detour from the camp,
+having gotten just inside the danger zone when the fire broke
+out. Guided by the butte where he knew his companion must be,
+Stacy headed for that point. There he came upon Tad's trail, and
+began yelling to attract his attention. He had heard Tad's
+answering cry, and this inspired the fat boy to renewed
+efforts.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy, now that he had passed Tad, slowed up ever so little.
+He had passed his companion so swiftly that he was unable to
+determine whether or not Tad were in distress.</p>
+
+<p>The latter came up, overhauling Stacy in a few moments. Both
+ponies were steaming from the terrific gruelling they were giving
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"What you doing here?" exploded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Same thing you are."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Trying to save myself from being burned alive&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't slow up! Don't slow up!" shouted Tad. "Keep going!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am. Wat's matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see what you had to come tumbling into this mess
+for," objected Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't tumble in. Rode in. Came to help you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Precious lot of help you'll be to me. Lucky if we're not both
+burned with our boots on. See! The flame's narrowing in on us.
+More steam, Chunky! More steam!" urged Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't. Blow up the boiler if I do," Stacy could not be other
+than humorous, even under their present trying situation.</p>
+
+<p>"That's better than burning out your fires, and it's quicker
+too&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>All at once, Chunky uttered a terrible howl. His pony had
+stepped into a hole and gone down floundering in the long grass,
+Chunky himself having been hurled over the animal's head, landing
+several feet in advance.</p>
+
+<p>"Help! Help!"</p>
+
+<p>The rest was lost as the fat boy's face plowed the earth
+filling mouth, eyes and nostrils.</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not lose his presence of mind, though events had been
+following each other in such quick succession.</p>
+
+<p>Changing the reins to his right hand and bunching them there,
+he grasped the pommel of the saddle, driving his own pony
+straight at the kicking, floundering Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>The pony swerved ever so little, Tad's body swept down, and
+when it rose, his fingers were fastened in the shirt collar of
+his companion, with Chunky yelling and choking, as he was being
+dragged over the ground at almost a killing pace.</p>
+
+<p>Tad had no time to do more than hold on to his friend. He
+dared not stop to lift him to the saddle just then. The flames
+were roaring behind them and on either side, leaving a long,
+narrow lane ahead, through which lay their only hope of
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>"Buck up! Buck up, Chunky!" shouted Tad, himself taking a
+fresh brace in the stirrups, for the weight of the fat boy's
+dragging body was slowly pulling Tad from the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy was howling like an Indian, not from fear, but from
+anger at the rough usage to which he was being subjected. He did
+not stop to think that it was the only way his life might be
+saved&mdash;nor that his own pony lay back there in the bunch
+grass amid the flame and smoke.</p>
+
+<p>Tad knew it.</p>
+
+<p>Now, by a mighty effort Tad righted himself again, and,
+leaning forward, threw one arm about the pony's neck, trusting to
+the animal to follow the outward trail to safety of its own
+accord.</p>
+
+<p>Tad felt a sudden jolt that nearly caused him to slide from
+his pony on the side opposite Chunky. At the same time, the
+strain on the lad's arm was suddenly released.</p>
+
+<p>Tad was up on his saddle like a flash. His right hand held the
+fat boy's shirt, while a series of howls to the rear told him
+where the owner of the shirt lay.</p>
+
+<p>Tad groaned. Pulling his pony fairly back on its haunches, he
+dashed back where Stacy lay kicking, entangling himself deeper
+and deeper in the bunch grass.</p>
+
+<p>Had Tad not had presence of mind they both might have perished
+right there. He was off like a flash. With supreme strength, he
+grasped the body of his fallen companion, raising him into the
+saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on!" he shouted. "Don't you dare fall off!"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy clung like a monkey to a pony in a circus race.</p>
+
+<p>"Y-i-i-p!" trilled Tad. He had no time to mount. Already he
+could feel the hot breath of the flames on his cheek.</p>
+
+<p>The broncho was off with a bound.</p>
+
+<p>"Tad! Tad!" cried Chunky in sudden alarm, now realizing that
+he was alone. "Whe&mdash;where are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"H-h-h-h-e-r-e!"</p>
+
+<p>"W-w-where?"</p>
+
+<p>"H-h-h-holding to the b-r-r-oncho's t-tail."</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" howled Stacy, as, turning in the saddle, he discovered
+his companion being fairly jerked through the air, holding fast
+to the pony's tail, the lad's feet hardly touching the ground at
+all. The broncho, that ordinarily would have resented such
+treatment, too fully occupied in saving his own life from the
+flames, gave no heed to the weight he was dragging, and it is
+doubtful if he even realized there was any additional weight
+there.</p>
+
+<p>With a final, desperate leap, the broncho shot out ahead of
+the narrowing lane. Like the jaws of some great monster, the two
+lapping lines of fire closed in behind them, roaring as if with
+deadly rage.</p>
+
+<p>The pony dashed out into a broad, open water course, whose
+dry, glistening sands would prove an effectual barrier to the
+prairie fire.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, though everything was swimming before his eyes, realized
+quickly that they were now well out of danger.</p>
+
+<p>"St-t-t-top him. I c-c-c-an't let go if you d-d-don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Whoa! Whoa! Don't you know enough to quit when you're
+through?" chided Chunky, tugging at the reins. The broncho
+carried them some distance before the lad was able to pull him
+down. Finally he did so.</p>
+
+<p>"Leggo!" he shouted, at the same time whirling the pony
+sharply about, fairly "cracking the whip" with Tad Butler.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky's clever foresight probably saved Tad Butler's life,
+for, instantly the pony found itself free, it began bucking and
+kicking in a circle, kicking a ring all round the compass before
+it finally decided to settle down on all fours. Finishing, it
+meekly lowered its nose to the ground and now, as docile as a,
+kitten after having supped on warm milk, began dozing, the steam
+rising in a cloud from its sides.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of all the fool fools, you're the champion fool!"
+growled Stacy, slipping from the saddle and surveying the broncho
+with disapproving eyes. "Hah! I guess we'd been done to a turn by
+this if it hadn't been for you, just the same. Hello, Tad!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad had doubled up in a heap where the tail of the broncho had
+flung him. He was well-nigh spent, but he smiled back at his
+companion, who stood on a slight rise of ground, almost a heroic
+figure.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky's shirt was entirely missing, his skin red from the
+heat, ridged with scratches where he had come in violent contact
+with cactus plants, his hair tousled and gray with dust.</p>
+
+<p>"Well you are a sight," grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't take a prize at a baby show yourself," retorted
+Stacy, spicily.</p>
+
+<p>Tad's clothes were torn, and his limbs were black and blue all
+the way down where the hoofs of the broncho had raked them again
+and again.</p>
+
+<p>"My arms feel a foot longer than they did. What are you
+looking at?"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's eyes grew large and luminous as he gazed off over the
+plains.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look, Tad!" he whispered.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII</h3>
+
+<h4>FOLLOWING A HOT TRAIL</h4>
+
+<p>"Fire! Fire!" cried Professor Zepplin, leaping up from where
+he had been leaning over, watching the water bubbling in the
+bottom of the excavation they had made.</p>
+
+<p>The guide had been hanging over the hole, dipping water to
+Ned, who was turning it into the water-bags.</p>
+
+<p>"Where, where?" demanded Mr. Kringle explosively. He also
+sprang to his feet. "It's a prairie fire!"</p>
+
+<p>"The boys are caught. They'll perish!" exclaimed Professor
+Zepplin, with blanching face. "Go to them, go to them, Mr.
+Kringle!" he begged.</p>
+
+<p>"No living thing could get through that wall of fire,
+Professor," announced the guide impressively. "We'll shout and
+perhaps, if alive, they'll bear us."</p>
+
+<p>They did so, with the result already known.</p>
+
+<p>"Which direction did Master Stacy take?" Mr. Kringle
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw him riding down that way," replied Walter, pointing
+excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, perhaps he is safe outside of the fire zone. Some of
+you hurry back to the camp, The stock may take fright and
+stampede. No, we'll all go. The wind may shift at any moment, and
+while I do not think the flames could reach the camp, all our
+animals might be suffocated, even if they did not succeed in
+getting away."</p>
+
+<p>"But you're not going to desert Tad and Chunky, are you?"
+demanded Walter indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not. What can we do here? We must get the ponies
+first; then we'll hurry to them. I'm afraid they've been caught,"
+answered the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"If there's any way of escape you may depend upon it that
+Master Tad has discovered that way," answered the Professor. "He
+is a resourceful boy, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But the rest were already dashing madly toward the camp and
+Professor Zepplin began to do so with all speed to catch up with
+them. The hot breath of the prairie fire had brought the color to
+his blanched cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"How&mdash;how do you think the fire started?" stammered the
+Professor, when he at last came up with the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"It was set afire," answered Kris Kringle grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"Set!" shouted the Professor and the two boys all in one
+breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"By whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"That remains to be seen."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that one of the boys was imprudent enough to
+build a fire in that grass? Surely they would not have been so
+foolish as to do a thing like that."</p>
+
+<p>"As I said, that remains to be seen. The first thing to be
+done is to get to them as quickly as possible, though I don't
+know that we can do any good. They're either out of it, by this
+time, or else they're not," added Mr. Kringle suggestively.
+"Professor, I wish you and one of the boys would get out your
+rifles, mount your ponies and watch the camp, while two of us go
+in search of the lost ones."</p>
+
+<p>"Watch the camp?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"For what reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"Merely as a precaution."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll attend to that. I want all of you to get after Tad and
+Stacy. We don't care about the camp particularly, when compared
+with two human lives."</p>
+
+<p>The smoke was rolling over them in such dense clouds that the
+camp was wholly obscured from view until they were upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick! Get the horses before they break away!" commanded the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't find them!" shouted Ned, who had bounded on ahead and
+disappeared in the great suffocating cloud.</p>
+
+<p>Walter was only a few steps behind him, both boys groping,
+blinking and coughing as the smoke got into eyes and lungs.</p>
+
+<p>"Lie down when it gets stronger than you can stand. There's
+always a current of fresh air near the ground," called the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>Both lads adopted his suggestion instantly, and they were none
+too soon, for already they were getting dizzy. After a few long
+breaths, they were up, groping about once more in search of the
+stock.</p>
+
+<p>"Over to you right," called the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"We've been there. They're not there at all," answered
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the guide had dived into the cloud.</p>
+
+<p>"The stock has gone," they heard him shoat.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they stampeded?" roared the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I'll find out in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>"Queer that this smoke blows two ways at once," said
+Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a slight breeze blowing this way," explained Ned.
+"Not enough, however, to turn the fire back. It has got too good
+a start."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a weird "c-o-o-e-e" sounded to the right of them.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's the guide, Walt. He's trying to call the boys, to see if
+they are alive," explained Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so. That cry is for some other purpose. I'm
+going over where he is to find out what it does mean. Come
+on."</p>
+
+<p>Together the lads ran as fast as they could in the direction
+from which the guide's voice had come.</p>
+
+<p>They found him with hands shaped into a megaphone, uttering
+his shrill cries. He made no answer to their questions as to what
+he was trying to do.</p>
+
+<p>All at once off in the cloud they heard rapid hoofbeats. The
+boys glanced at each other in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the ponies returning," breathed Walter Perkins.</p>
+
+<p>Ned shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>The cries now took on a more insistent tone, and a moment
+later two ponies came whinnying into the camp, snorting with
+fear. Kris Kringle spoke to them sharply, whereupon they came
+trotting up to him with every evidence of pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>The lads were amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you boys shoot a rope?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," they answered together.</p>
+
+<p>"Which one is the better at it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ned is more expert than I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Take one of my ponies. We've got to go after the stock. Rope
+and bring them in as fast as possible. It's getting late, and it
+will be dark before we know it. There's not more than two hours
+of daylight left."</p>
+
+<p>"I can take my pony and help," began Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't any pony. They're all gone."</p>
+
+<p>Ned and the guide dashed from the camp at break-neck speed.
+Emerging from the dust cloud they saw some of the stock far off
+on the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"There they are!" cried Ned</p>
+
+<p>"Thank goodness, they're all together. And they are not
+running. We've got them bunched."</p>
+
+<p>"Were they afraid of the smoke? What made them break
+away?"</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't break away."</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"Their tethers were cut and they were sent adrift," answered
+the guide grimly;</p>
+
+<p>Ned was speechless with surprise.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the ponies, objecting to being roped, ran away,
+necessitating a lively chase. Kris Kringle worked with the
+precision of an automatic gun and with proportionate speed. In
+half an hour they had roped all the ponies, and, with the burros
+trailing along behind, started back to camp as rapidly as
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>A heavy pall of smoke still hung over the camp and all the
+surrounding country.</p>
+
+<p>Once more they staked down the ponies and pack animals, and
+urging vigilance on the part of Professor Zepplin, Ned and the
+guide dashed away at full gallop in search of the two missing
+lads.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we going through the fire?" questioned Ned
+apprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>"We're going to try it. The worst of it must have passed
+before this, but we may have to turn back or turn out for spots.
+It's the shortest way, and the only course to follow if we want
+to know what has become of them."</p>
+
+<p>Spreading out a little they continued on their way, the ponies
+snorting, threatening to whirl about and race back into the open
+plain. The ground was like a furnace and the grass smouldered
+beneath them, heating their feet and singeing their fetlocks.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Ned's pony reared into the air, bucked and hurled its
+rider far over into the smouldering bunch grass.</p>
+
+<p>Ned uttered a yell of warning as he felt himself going.</p>
+
+<p>The guide wheeled like a flash. Ned's mount had whirled and
+was away like a shot. But the guide was after him with even
+greater speed. The chase came to an abrupt ending some few rods
+farther on, when Kris Kringle's lariat squirmed out, bringing the
+fleeing pony to the ground with its nose in the hot dust.</p>
+
+<p>Without dismounting, the guide turned his own mount, and
+fairly dragging the unwilling pony behind him, pounded back to
+the place where Ned had been unhorsed.</p>
+
+<p>"Grab him!" commanded the guide to Ned, who had quickly
+scrambled to his feet. "What was it that he saw?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Guess he made up his mind to go back."</p>
+
+<p>"No; he saw something. Hang on to him and cover the ground all
+about you till you find it."</p>
+
+<p>"Wha&mdash;what do you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind. Look!"</p>
+
+<p>"Here! Here it is!" cried Ned aghast.</p>
+
+<p>The guide was at his side instantly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pony," gasped the Pony Rider boy.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle was off his own mount instantly, and bidding Ned
+hold the animal, he made a brief examination of the fallen horse,
+after which he darted here and there, unheeding the fact that the
+still burning grass was blistering his feet through the heavy
+soles of his boots.</p>
+
+<p>For several rods Kringle ran along the faint trail that Tad
+and Stacy had left, or rather, that the fire had left after
+passing over it.</p>
+
+<p>"They beat their way out here. We may find them later. Come
+on!"</p>
+
+<p>Again Ned and the guide dashed away, both keeping their gaze
+on the smoking prairie about them. The smoke now was almost more
+than they could bear.</p>
+
+<p>"Do&mdash;do you think they are alive?" asked Ned
+unsteadily.</p>
+
+<p>"So far. If they are not, it's not their fault. The Professor
+is right. Those boys have pluck enough to pull them through, but
+sometimes pluck alone will not do it. A prairie fire is no
+respecter of pluck."</p>
+
+<p>They burst out into an open space. There were no signs of
+either of the missing boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Something has happened to them. We must have missed them,"
+announced the guide.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV</h3>
+
+<h4>AGAINST BIG ODDS</h4>
+
+<p>"What is it, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"There!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad jerked his companion flat on the ground, flattening
+himself beside Stacy at the same instant.</p>
+
+<p>What had caused their sudden alarm was the sight of two
+Indians, sitting on their ponies without saddles, some distance
+out on the open plain. The redskins were wrapped in their
+brightly colored blankets, which enveloped them from head to
+knees. Even the hands were invisible beneath the folds of the
+blankets.</p>
+
+<p>"D-d-do you think they saw us, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. It's safe to say they did. Indian eyes don't
+miss very much. You ought to know that, by this time. I wish we
+could make that pony lie down."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's too afraid of the ground&mdash;thinks it's still hot,
+and I don't blame him. The fire has singed him pretty well as it
+is.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians sat their mounts as motionless as statues, the
+ponies headed directly toward where the two lads were lying.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet they're got guns under those blankets," decided Tad.
+"You can't trust an Indian even while you are looking at
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Anybody'd think you'd been hunting Indians all your life,"
+growled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"They've been hunting me mostly," grinned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"And usually caught you," added Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like this lying here as if we were scared of
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"But, what else can we do, Tad?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I. Wish I had a shirt. I'll spoil my complexion
+clear down to my waist. Resides, I'm not fit to be seen."</p>
+
+<p>"You're lucky to be alive," growled Tad. "I'm going to get out
+of this."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, and you'll know. I'm going to get on the pony; then,
+as soon as I'm in the saddle, you jump up behind me and we'll
+start back to camp."</p>
+
+<p>"Not&mdash;not through that fire?" protested Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I don't dare try it. I'm afraid we'd get lost in the
+smoke and perhaps get burned as well. We'll ride out some
+distance, then turn to the left and try to go around the burned
+district."</p>
+
+<p>"What if the Indians chase us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe they will. They'll hardly dare do that. And,
+besides, these may be friendly Indians."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh!" grunted Stacy. "They look it."</p>
+
+<p>Tad got up boldly, and without even looking toward the silent
+red men, began fussing about his saddle, cinching the girths, and
+straightening the saddle. His last act before mounting was to see
+that the coils of his lariat were in order.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," announced the lad, vaulting into the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy scrambled up behind him without loss of time, and they
+rode out into the open, the fat boy peering apprehensively over
+his companion's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"You keep watch of them, Chunky, but don't let them see you
+doing it. I won't look at them at all. We don't want them to
+think we're afraid."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy fidgeted.</p>
+
+<p>"You bet I'll watch 'em. Wish I had my rifle."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh!"</p>
+
+<p>"You have distinguished yourself quite enough with that rifle
+as it is. We don't want any more of your fancy shooting."</p>
+
+<p>"There they go," warned Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"I see them." Tad had been cautiously observing the horsemen
+out of the corners of his eyes. "Moving in the same direction we
+are. I don't like the looks of it. Still, if they don't get any
+nearer we may be thankful."</p>
+
+<p>The pony carrying the boys was walking easily, and the mounts
+of the Indians were doing the same.</p>
+
+<p>"Jog a little," suggested Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good idea. It will tell us quickly whether they are
+trying to keep up with us."</p>
+
+<p>He touched the pony lightly with his spurs. The little animal
+switched its tail, for its sides were tender, and started
+off.</p>
+
+<p>"There they go, Tad! Jogging the same gait as ours!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad's face took on the stubborn look it always wore when he
+had determined upon a certain course of action.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll beat them yet, even if there are only two of them. I
+wish there weren't two of us on this nag."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get off and walk," suggested. Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll do nothing of the sort. That would be a nice thing to
+do, wouldn't it? They'd round you up quicker'n they could a lame
+burro."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know that sage hen we had?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, what's that got to do with our present predicament?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was wondering why there aren't any sage roosters?"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be a sage rooster, with your head off, first thing you
+know," snapped Tad in disgust. "Can't you be serious for a
+minute? Don't you see we are in a fix?"</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-huh!"</p>
+
+<p>"There, that fellow is trying to head us off."</p>
+
+<p>One of the Indians had shot away from his companion, running
+obliquely toward the point to which Tad was headed.</p>
+
+<p>The red man had gotten quite a start before the boys caught
+the significance of his manoeuvre.</p>
+
+<p>Tad dug in the spurs.</p>
+
+<p>At that instant the fat boy's hands had been removed from Tad,
+to whose body they had been clinging.</p>
+
+<p>The pony leaped forward, and Stacy slid over its rump, hitting
+the ground with a jolt that jarred him.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" howled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, instantly divining what had happened, pulled up sharply;
+wheeled and raced back to where his companion was still
+complaining loudly and rubbing his body.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up!" roared Tad, leaning over and grasping Stacy by the
+hair of his head.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy was jerked sharply to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick! Quick, climb up here!"</p>
+
+<p>With the help of his companion, the lad scrambled up behind
+Tad again, muttering and rubbing himself.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the leading horseman had wholly outdistanced
+them, and his pony was now loping along easily, while the second
+Indian appeared to be riding directly toward them, at right
+angles to the direction in which they were traveling.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the two Indians began riding about the boys in a
+circle, uttering short little "yips," intended to terrify the
+lads, but not loud enough to be heard any great distance
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang on! We're going to ride for keeps now!" warned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy threw both arms about his companion's waist as the
+pony let out into a swift run. At first Tad thought he had gotten
+safely out of the circle, only to discover that they had headed
+him again.</p>
+
+<p>The circle was narrowing, and the Indians were gradually
+drawing in on them.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's eyes were growing larger every minute, perhaps more
+from astonishment than from fear. Then, too, he could not but
+admire the riding of their pursuers. Even the blankets of the
+Indians appeared not to be disturbed in the least by their rapid
+riding, the horsemen sitting a little sideways on the ponies'
+backs, the reins bunched loosely in their left bands.</p>
+
+<p>"They've got us, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"They shan't get us!" retorted Tad stubbornly. "If they don't
+use their guns&mdash;and I don't believe they will&mdash;we'll
+beat them yet."</p>
+
+<p>If Stacy was doubtful he did not say so.</p>
+
+<p>"If they get close to us, you be ready to let go of me when I
+give the word," cautioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"What for? What you going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet. That depends upon circumstances. I'm not
+going to let them have it all their own way while I've got a pony
+under me. We may get help any minute, too, so the longer we can
+put off a clash the better it will be for us."</p>
+
+<p>"Who you mean&mdash;Santa Claus?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"They're closing in now," said Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your hands away from my waist."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'll fall off, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"Slip one hand through under my belt and take hold of the
+cantle with the other. Sit as low as you can so as not to get in
+my way."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy obeyed his companion's directions without further
+comment, but he was all curiosity to know what was going to
+happen next.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians were drawing nearer every second now. The boys
+could see the expressions on their evil faces, intensified by the
+streaks of yellow and red paint.</p>
+
+<p>"They look as though they'd stuck their heads in a paint
+pail," was Chunky's muttered comment.</p>
+
+<p>The blankets fell away from the racing savages, flapped on the
+rumps of the bobbing ponies for a few seconds and then slipped to
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>A rifle was reposing in each man's holster, as Tad observed
+instantly. He was thankful to note that the guns were not in the
+hands of the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>The lad's right hand had dropped carelessly to the saddle
+horn, the fingers cautiously gathering in the coils of the lariat
+that hung there. The red men did not appear to have observed his
+act.</p>
+
+<p>"Lie low!" commanded Tad, scarcely above a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy settled down slowly so as not to attract attention.</p>
+
+<p>One horseman shot directly across Tad's course, striking the
+lad's pony full in the face as he did so, and causing the animal
+to brace himself so suddenly as to nearly unseat both boys.</p>
+
+<p>Tad's rope was in the air in a twinkling.</p>
+
+<p>A warning shout from the second Indian, who was just to the
+rear of them, came too late. The rope shot true to its mark and
+the first savage, with back half-turned, had failed to observe it
+coming.</p>
+
+<p>The great loop dropped over his head. The pony braced itself
+and Tad took a quick turn of the rope about the pommel of his
+saddle.</p>
+
+<p>The result was instantaneous. The Indian was catapulted from
+his saddle with arms pinioned to his aide.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye-ow!" howled Chunky; unable to restrain his enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Tad did not even hear him.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out! Here comes the other one!" warned the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>But Tad was too busily engaged in keeping the line taut about
+the roped Indian. The fellow was struggling on the ground,
+fighting to free himself, while the boy with the rope was
+manoeuvring his pony in a series of lightning-like movements that
+made the fat boy's head swim.</p>
+
+<p>"Take care of him, Chunky!! I can't," gasped Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's eyes took on a belligerent expression as the second
+savage bore down upon them, with knees gripped tightly against
+the side of his pony, half raising himself above the animal's
+back, reins dropped on the pony's neck. The Indian was guiding
+his mount by the pressure of legs and knees alone.</p>
+
+<p>The angry redskin was making futile attempts to get into a
+position where he might grab the active Tad. He did not seem to
+take into account the cringing figure behind the boy who had
+roped the other Indian.</p>
+
+<p>All at once, at the opportune moment, his pony forging ahead,
+the Indian's hand shot out. The red, bony fingers were closing
+upon Tad Butler's right shoulder, when all at once something
+happened.</p>
+
+<p>The cringing fat boy rose. The right hand that had been
+clinging to the cantle was launched out. His body, thrown forward
+at the same time, lent the blow added force.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky's fist came into violent contact with the Indian's jaw.
+Mr. Redman disappeared from the back of his pony so quickly that,
+for a second, Stacy could scarcely believe his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Y-e-o-w! W-o-w!" howled the fat boy. "Beat it for the tall
+grass, Tad!"</p>
+
+<p>A quick glance behind him, revealed the true state of affairs
+to Tad Butler. He dug in the spurs, clinging to the lariat for a
+few feet, then suddenly releasing it, as the pony leaped away
+under the stinging pressure of the spurs.</p>
+
+<p>"Duck! Duck! They're going to shoot!" shouted Tad.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV</h3>
+
+<h4>HIT BY A DRY STORM</h4>
+
+<p>"There it goes! Lower, Chunky!"</p>
+
+<p>A rifle had crashed somewhere to the left of them.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy's curiosity getting the better of him, he had twisted
+his body around, and was peering back; but he was bobbing up and
+down so fast that he found it difficult to fix his eyes on any
+one point long enough to distinguish what that object was.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look!" he cried, when in a long rise of the pony his
+eyes had caught something definite.</p>
+
+<p>The roped Indian was running for his pony, which he caught,
+leaping to its back and dashing away madly.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold up! Hold up! There's something doing," shouted the fat,
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>Tad swerved a little, turning to his left. Rifles were
+banging, and the dust was spurting up under the feet of the
+savage's racing pony.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, the second Indian had recovered from the blow
+that Stacy had landed on his jaw, and he too was in his saddle in
+a twinkling, tearing madly cross the plain.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy Brown uttered a series of wild whoops and yells. He knew
+their assailants were running and that some one was shooting at
+the Indians, but who it was the fat boy could only guess.</p>
+
+<p>Two ponies suddenly dashed out from the low-lying smoke cloud.
+One of their riders was swinging his sombrero and cheering; the
+other was firing his rifle after the fleeing savages.</p>
+
+<p>"Hooray, it's Santa Claus," howled Stacy, fairly beside
+himself with excitement. Even Tad caught something of his
+companion's spirit of enthusiasm. He swung his hand and started
+galloping toward the two horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot 'em! Kill 'em!" howled Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>But Santa Claus merely shook his head, and after refilling the
+magazine of his rifle slipped it into the holster.</p>
+
+<p>"It would only make trouble and probably cause an uprising if
+I did. They know I could have winged them both had I wanted to,"
+he grinned. "Well, you boys are a sight."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I lost my shirt," interjected Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"And I suppose you fell in," chuckled Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I fell off."</p>
+
+<p>"We're lucky to be alive," laughed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"You are that. I see now that Professor Zepplin was right when
+he said you could take care of yourself. Never saw anything quite
+so slick as the way you roped that redskin&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;and I punched the other one," glowed Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see us?" questioned Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we saw the whole proceeding. But you were so mixed up
+that we couldn't fire without danger of hitting one of you boys.
+Wonder what those Apaches think struck them," laughed the guide.
+"How did you get through the fire?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad explained briefly; at the same time accounting for the
+loss of Stacy's shirt.</p>
+
+<p>"I bet that the fellow with the canary-wing face has a sore
+jaw," bubbled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt of it, Master Stacy. I didn't suppose you had such a
+punch as that. You're a good Indian fighter."</p>
+
+<p>"Always was," answered the fat boy, swelling with
+importance.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, we'll have to hurry back It will be dark before we
+reach camp, as it is, and the Professor will be worrying about
+you."</p>
+
+<p>They turned about, and, heading across the burned area,
+started for camp. Fitful blazes were springing up here and there,
+but all danger had, by this time, passed, though the smoke still
+hung heavy and the odor of burned vegetation smote the nostrils
+unpleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy sniffed the air suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Tastes like a drug store fire I smelled once in Chillicothe,"
+he averred.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't made up my mind, yet, how that fire started, Mr.
+Kringle," wondered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I have," replied the guide tersely.</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was set afire!"</p>
+
+<p>"By whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"By one of those savages, or by somebody who was with them.
+They must have been watching you all the time. Did you recognize
+either of them as the fellow you knocked down the other
+might?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I don't think I would know the Indian. The light was too
+uncertain at the fire dance, and then again, all Indians look
+alike to me."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a narrow escape."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think they'll come back again?" questioned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt it. They won't if they recognized me. They know me.
+They've done business with me before."</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin and Walter were overjoyed when at last the
+party rode into camp and they learned that both boys were safe.
+The lads were obliged to go all over their experiences again for
+the benefit of the Professor and Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"It's getting worse and worse," decided the Professor
+helplessly. "I don't know where all this is going to end. I
+thought when we got a new guide&mdash;but what's the use? Do you
+think we had better start to-night, Mr. Kringle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. There is no necessity."</p>
+
+<p>"What am I going to do for a pony?" asked Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"You can ride one of mine. I always take two when on a long
+journey," replied the guide.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky's first act after reaching camp, was to provide himself
+with a shirt. After donning it, he announced that he had an
+appetite and wanted to know when they were going to have
+supper.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you had supper hours ago," scoffed Ned. "Want another
+one already?"</p>
+
+<p>"That wasn't supper, that was four o'clock tea. Indian
+fighters must have real food."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop teasing. We'll give the 'ittle baby his milk," returned
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>That night, Kris Kringle remained on guard himself. He would
+not trust the guardianship of the camp to any of the boys, for he
+fully expected that they would receive a visit from one or more
+of the Indians, though he did not tell the others so. But nothing
+occurred to disturb the camp, and the boys, despite their trying
+experiences, slept soundly, awakening in the morning fresh and
+active, ready and anxious for any further adventures.</p>
+
+<p>The party set out shortly after sunrise, and traveled all day
+across the uneven plains, across short mountain ranges, through
+deep gorges and rugged foothills.</p>
+
+<p>Crossing an open space the guide espied a bottle glistening in
+the sunlight.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a bottle," pointed the guide. "Want it?"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy glanced at it indifferently;</p>
+
+<p>"What do I want of a bottle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll take it," decided the guide, dismounting and
+stowing the abandoned piece of glass in his saddle bags.</p>
+
+<p>"Bottles are good for only two things."</p>
+
+<p>"And what are they, Master Stacy?" questioned the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"To keep things in and to shoot at," replied the fat boy
+wisely.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody laughed at that.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess that embodies everything you can say about bottles,"
+smiled the Professor. "Your logic, at times, young man, is
+unassailable."</p>
+
+<p>Chunky nodded. He had a faint idea of what Professor Zepplin
+meant.</p>
+
+<p>Late that afternoon the travelers came upon a shack in the
+foothills, where an old rancher, a hermit, lived when not tending
+his little flock of sheep, most of which, Kris Kringle said, the
+old man had stolen from droves that came up over the trail going
+north.</p>
+
+<p>He was an interesting old character, this hermit, and the boys
+decided that they would like to make camp and have him take
+supper with them. This the Professor and the guide readily agreed
+to, for everyone was hot and dusty and the bronchos were nervous
+and ill-natured.</p>
+
+<p>The boys found the old rancher talkative enough on all
+subjects save himself. When Chunky asked him where he came from,
+and what for, the old man's face flushed angrily.</p>
+
+<p>At the first opportunity the guide took the fat boy aside for
+some fatherly advice.</p>
+
+<p>"In this country it isn't good policy to be too curious about
+a man's family affairs. He's likely to resent it in a way you
+won't like. Most fellows out here have reasons for being out of
+the world, beyond what's apparent on the surface."</p>
+
+<p>Chunky heeded the advice and asked no more personal questions
+for the next hour, though he did forget himself before the
+evening was ended.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to be having pretty dry weather down here," said the
+Professor, by way of starting the old man to talking.</p>
+
+<p>"Yep. Haven't had any rain in this belt fer the last two
+years."</p>
+
+<p>"Two years!" exclaimed the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Yep. Had a few light dews, but that's all," replied the
+hermit.</p>
+
+<p>"Looks to me as if you were going to get some to-night,"
+announced Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon not."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'm no judge of weather."</p>
+
+<p>Even as Tad spoke there was a low muttering of thunder, and
+the far lightning flashed pale and green, and rose on the long
+horizon to the southwest.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle heard the far away growl. Springing up, he began
+staking down the tents.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good idea. We lost our whole outfit on our last
+trip. Think they'll stand a blow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they will when I get through with them. Have we any
+more stakes in camp?"</p>
+
+<p>"There should be some in the kit."</p>
+
+<p>Tad searched until he found several more stakes, and with
+these and the emergency ropes, they made the tents secure.</p>
+
+<p>By the time they had done so, the heavens had grown black and
+menacing. They could see the storm sweeping down on them. It was
+a magnificent sight, and the lads were so lost in observing its
+grandeur that they forgot to feel any alarm.</p>
+
+<p>A cloud of dust accompanied the advance guard of the
+storm.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon there ain't any rain in them clouds," commented the
+old man. "There's plenty of the other thing, though."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the other thing?" questioned Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Lightning."</p>
+
+<p>Even as he spoke a bolt descended right in the center of the
+camp, tearing a hole in the earth and hurling a cloud of dirt and
+dust many feet up into the air.</p>
+
+<p>The force of the explosion knocked some of the party flat.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky picked himself up and carefully brushed his clothes;
+then, solemnly walked out and sat down on the spot where the
+lightning had struck.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here! What are you doing out there?" demanded the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Sitting on the lightning."</p>
+
+<p>"You come in here! And quick, at that!"</p>
+
+<p>"Huh! Guess I know what I'm doing. Lightning never strikes
+twice in the same place. I'm&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>By this time Kris Kringle had the fat boy by the collar,
+hustling him to the protection of one of the tents.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had they reached it than a crash that seemed as if
+it had split the earth wide open descended upon them. Balls of
+fire shot off in every direction. One went right through the tent
+where they were huddled, hurling the Pony Rider Boys in a
+heap.</p>
+
+<p>They scrambled up calling to each other nervously.</p>
+
+<p>The shock had extinguished the lantern that hung in the tent.
+The guide relighted it, and, stepping outside to see what had
+happened, pointed to the place where Chunky had been sitting but
+a few minutes before.</p>
+
+<p>The bolt had struck in the identical spot where the previous
+one had landed.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, young man, there's an object lesson for you," Mr.
+Kringle said, with a grim smile.</p>
+
+<p>"And there's another!" replied Chunky, pointing to the outside
+of the tent.</p>
+
+<p>There lay the old rancher, whose absence they had not noted.
+He had been in the tent with them when they last saw him and how
+he had gotten out there none knew. The rancher had been stripped
+of every vestige of clothing by the freaky lightning.</p>
+
+<p>"He's dead," crooned Stacy solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Get water, quick! He's been struck by lightning!" commanded
+the guide, making systematic efforts to bring the old man back to
+consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy ran for the water-bags.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid it is useless, Mr. Kringle," warned, the
+Professor, failing to find a pulse. The boys were standing about
+fanning the victim, having one by one dumped the contents of
+their canteens in his face.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy returned with a water-bag after a little.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I&mdash;I've got an idea," he exploded, as with eyes
+wide open he attempted to tell them something.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still. We've got something else to do besides listening
+to your foolishness," chided Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky, we're trying to save this man's life. Give me that
+bag," commanded Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The two older men were working desperately on the patient.
+Stacy stood around, fidgeting a little, but making no further
+attempt to enlighten them as to what his new idea was.</p>
+
+<p>After a time the rancher began to show signs of recovering. He
+gasped a few times then opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What kicked me?" he asked, with a half-grin.</p>
+
+<p>They could all afford to laugh now, and they did. The rancher
+refused their offer of clothes, saying he had another suit in his
+shack.</p>
+
+<p>"That's twice the stuff has knocked me out. Next time it'll
+git me for keeps," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Does it strike here very often?" questioned the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Allus."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, there must be some mineral substance in the soil."</p>
+
+<p>"No, ain't nothing like that. Jest contrariness that's all.
+Hit my shack once, and 'cause 'twas raining, bored holes in the
+roof so the place got all wet inside."</p>
+
+<p>"But it isn't raining now. Doesn't it usually rain when you
+have a thunder storm here?" asked the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"No. Ain't had no rain in nigh onto two year," the hermit
+reiterated.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd better go and put on some clothes," suggested Kris
+Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess that's right."</p>
+
+<p>The old man seemed to have forgotten his condition. The others
+had wrapped a blanket around him, which seemed to satisfy his
+demand for clothes. Gathering up the blanket he strolled
+leisurely toward his cabin, undisturbed by his recent
+experience.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing like getting used to it," chuckled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, now we'll hear what your new idea is, Chunky?" jeered
+Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, what is it?" urged Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing much."</p>
+
+<p>"Never is," cut in Walter Perkins, a little maliciously.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I got an idea the ponies tried to kick holes in the
+lightning."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody laughed loudly. They could well afford to laugh, now
+that the danger had passed.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think that?" asked the guide, eyeing him
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause they're dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" shouted the boys.</p>
+
+<p>All hands dashed from the tent, Stacy regarding them with
+soulful eyes, after which he surreptitiously slipped a biscuit
+into his pocket and strolled out after them.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI</h3>
+
+<h4>CHUNKY'S NEW IDEA</h4>
+
+<p>Three of the ponies, they found, had been knocked down and so
+severely shocked that they were only just beginning to regain
+consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Ned, turning on Stacy
+savagely.</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't let me. Maybe next time I've got an idea, you'll
+stop and listen."</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle's face wore a broad grin.</p>
+
+<p>"Master Stacy is right. He tried hard enough to tell us," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky was humming blithely as the party set out next morning.
+He was pretty well satisfied with himself, for had he not been
+through a prairie fire, knocked a savage Apache off his horse,
+saved himself and his companions, besides having just escaped
+from being struck by lightning? Stacy swelled out his chest and
+held his chin a little bit higher than usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky's got a swelled head," said Ned, nodding in the
+direction of the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Swelled chest, you mean," laughed Walter. "Nobody has a
+better right. Chunky isn't half as big a fool as he'd have
+everybody believe. When we think we are having lots of fun with
+him he's really having sport with us. And those Indians&mdash;
+say, Ned, do you think they will bother us any more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Chunky," retorted Ned. "He's the oracle of the
+party."</p>
+
+<p>"I will," answered Walter, motioning for Stacy to join them,
+which the latter did leisurely. "We want to know if you think
+we've seen the last of the Apaches? Will they bother us any
+more?"</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy consulted the sky thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I think there's some of them around now," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy nodded wisely.</p>
+
+<p>"Santa Claus ought to have shot them."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you cold-blooded savage!" scoffed Ned. "The idea!"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll see. I'd have done it, myself, if I'd had my gun,"
+declared Stacy bravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Good thing for you that your gun was in camp, instead of in
+your holster."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I'd have lost the gun when the pony went down. Poor
+pony! Say, Walt," he murmured, leaning over toward his
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, out with it!"</p>
+
+<p>"This pony of Santa Claus's can jump further than a
+kangaroo."</p>
+
+<p>"Ever see a kangaroo jump?" sneered Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I've seen you try to. I'll show you, Walt, when we
+get a chance to go out and have a contest."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be good sport, wouldn't it, Ned?"</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"A jumping contest!"</p>
+
+<p>"If we didn't break our necks."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't break a Pony Rider Boy's neck. They're too tough,"
+laughed Walter, to which sentiment, Stacy Brown agreed with a
+series of emphatic nods.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, Tad," called Walter, "what do you say to our jumping our
+ponies some time to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad grinned appreciatively.</p>
+
+<p>"If the stock isn't too tired when we make camp, I think it
+would be great fun. We haven't had any real jumping contests in a
+long time."</p>
+
+<p>"Wish we had our stallions here, Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"They're better off at home, Chunky. Altogether too valuable
+horses for this kind of work. I'll speak to the guide."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it, young man?" smiled Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"If you can find a level place for our camp we want to have a
+contest this afternoon. Professor, will you join us?"</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of a contest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Jumping."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"We will camp in the foothills of the Black range. You will
+find plenty of level ground there for your purpose," said the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>In order that they might have more time for their games, an
+early halt was called. The first work was to pitch the camp, the
+ponies being allowed to graze and rest in the meantime, after
+which the lads started out on a broad, open plain for their
+sport.</p>
+
+<p>Their shouts of merriment drifted back to the camp where Kris
+Kringle and Professor Zepplin were setting things to rights and
+preparing an early supper, the sun still being some hours
+high.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a great bunch of boys, Professor."</p>
+
+<p>"Great for getting into difficulties."</p>
+
+<p>"And for getting out of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll put them against any other four lads in the world for
+hunting out trouble," laughed the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>The result of the afternoon's sport was a total of several
+spills and numerous black and blue spots on the bodies of the
+Pony Rider Boys. Stacy Brown on Kris Kringle's pony, carried off
+the honors, having taken a higher jump than did any of his
+companions. Then Stacy did it again, after the others had
+tried&mdash;and failed to equal the record.</p>
+
+<p>The games being finished, Tad and Walter rode off to get a
+closer view of some peculiar rock formations that they had
+discovered in the high distance, while Ned and Chunky started
+slowly for the camp.</p>
+
+<p>The table had been set out in front of the tents when the fat
+boy and his companion came in sight of the camp.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew! but I'm hungry!" announced Stacy Brown.</p>
+
+<p>"But you didn't think of it until you saw the table set, did
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't the table, it was the shaking up I got back there
+that made me feel full of emptiness."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh!"</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea, Ned."</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness' sake, keep it to yourself, then. When you have
+an idea it spells trouble for everybody else around you."</p>
+
+<p>"Bet you I can."</p>
+
+<p>"Can what?" snorted Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Bet you I can jump the dinner table and you can't."</p>
+
+<p>"Bet you can't."</p>
+
+<p>"Bet I can, and without even knocking a fly off the milk
+pitcher."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, you! You try it first, and, if you don't make it, you
+lose. I don't have to try it if I don't want to," agreed Ned,
+with rare prudence.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky was fairly hugging himself with glee, but he took good
+care that Ned Rector did not observe his satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't you're a tenderfoot," taunted Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll show you who's the tenderfoot. You go ahead and bolt the
+dinner, table and all, if you dare. Now, then!"</p>
+
+<p>Stacy gathered up his reins. There was mischief in his eyes,
+which were fixed on the table, neatly set for the evening
+meal.</p>
+
+<p>"You start right after me. They'll be surprised to see a
+procession of ponies going over the table, won't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody'll be surprised. May not be the Professor and Santa
+Claus, though," growled Ned.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy had his own ideas on this question, but he did not
+confide them to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy clucked to his pony, and the little animal started
+off. As they moved along, Stacy used the persuasive spurs
+resulting in a sudden burst of speed.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on!" he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>He heard Ned's pony pursuing him.</p>
+
+<p>"Hi-yi-yi-y-e-o-w!" howled the shrill voice of the fat
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle were sitting at opposite
+ends of the table, with elbows leaning on it, engaged in earnest
+conversation. There had been so much yelling out on the plain
+ever since the boys left camp that the older men gave no heed to
+this new shout&mdash;did not even turn their eyes in the
+direction whence Stacy Brown and his pony were sweeping down on
+them at break-neck speed.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the two men started back with a sudden exclamation,
+as a shadow fell athwart the table and a dark form hurled itself
+through the air, while a shrill, "w-h-o-o-p-e-e!" sounded right
+over their heads.</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy cleared the table without so much as disturbing
+the fly to which he had referred when making the arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle's face wore an expansive grin as he discovered
+the cause of the interruption. But, Professor Zepplin's face
+reflected no such emotion. He was angry. He started to rise, when
+a second shadow fell across the table.</p>
+
+<p>Ned Rector, not to be outdone by his fat little friend, pursed
+his lips tightly, driving his broncho at the dinner table and
+pressing in the spurs so hard, that the pony grunted with
+anger.</p>
+
+<p>Up went the broncho in a graceful curving leap.</p>
+
+<p>But the pony or its rider had not calculated the distance
+properly. Both rear hoofs went through the table, whisking it off
+the ground from before the astonished eyes of Professor Zepplin
+and Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>Both men drew back so violently that they toppled over
+backwards.</p>
+
+<p>'Mid the crashing of dishes and the sound of breaking wood,
+the dinner table shot up into the air, while the pony ploughed
+the ground with its nose.</p>
+
+<p>Ned Rector struck the ground some distance farther on; he slid
+on his face for several feet skinning his nose, and filling
+mouth, eyes and nose with dirt.</p>
+
+<p>Then dishes and pieces of table began to rain down on them in
+a perfect shower. A can of condensed milk emptied itself on the
+head of Professor Zepplin, while a hot biscuit lodged inside the
+collar of Santa Claus's shirt.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow! Oh, wow!" howled the fat boy, falling off his pony in
+the excess of his merriment and rolling on the ground.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII</h3>
+
+<h4>IN THE HOME OF THE CAVE DWELLERS</h4>
+
+<p>Ned Rector sat up just in time to meet the wreck of the
+descending table. Down he went again with Stacy's howls ringing
+in his ears.</p>
+
+<p>A firm hand jerked Rector free of the debris as Kris Kringle
+laughing heartily hauled Ned to his feet. At the same moment
+Professor Zepplin had laid more violent hands on the fat boy,
+whom he shook until Stacy's howls lost much of their mirth. About
+this time Tad and Walter rode in, having hurried along upon
+hearing the disturbance in camp.</p>
+
+<p>"Stacy Brown, are you responsible for this?" demanded the
+Professor sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm more to blame than he is," interposed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I&mdash;I had an idea," chuckled Stacy, threatening to
+break out into another howl of mirth.</p>
+
+<p>"Next time you have one, then, you will be good enough to let
+me know. We will tie you up until the impulse to make trouble has
+passed."</p>
+
+<p>Tad and Walter could not resist a shout of laughter. Kris
+Kringle was not slow to follow the example set by them, and all
+at once Professor Zepplin forgot his dignity, sitting right down
+amid the wreck and laughing immoderately.</p>
+
+<p>Ned washed his face, and when, upon facing them, he exhibited
+a peeled nose and a black eye, the merriment was renewed
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Supper was a success, in spite of the fact that many of their
+dishes were utterly ruined, as well as some of the provisions.
+But the lads gathered up the pieces and made the best of a bad
+job. Fortunately they carried another folding table that they had
+had made for their trip, and this was soon spread and a fresh
+meal prepared.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, have you two been getting into difficulties also?"
+questioned the Professor, after they sat down to supper.</p>
+
+<p>"No; we've been exploring, Walter and I," answered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Exploring?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. We discovered something that I should like to know more
+about."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" asked Kris Kringle, looking up
+interestedly.</p>
+
+<p>"We were over yonder, close to the mountains, which are
+straight up and down, and half way to the top, we saw three or
+four queerly-shaped rocks that looked like houses or huts. Did
+you ever see them, Mr. Kringle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I think I know what you mean. They must be some of
+the cave dwellings of the ancient Pueblos, or perhaps as far back
+as the Toltecs. They built their homes in caves on the steep
+rocks for better protection against their enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"And nobody ever discovered these before?" questioned. Walter.
+"How queer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps these dwellings, if such they are, have been seen by
+many a traveler, none of whom had interest enough in the matter
+to investigate. Then again, they may have been fully explored.
+There's not much in this part of the country that prospectors
+have not looked over."</p>
+
+<p>"May we explore these caves, Professor?" asked Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Please let us?" urged Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I see no objection if Mr. Kringle will be responsible for
+you. I rather think I'll look into them myself. I'll confess the
+idea interests me. Are they easy to get at?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not," answered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Santa Claus will show us the way," interrupted Stacy
+enthusiastically.</p>
+
+<p>He was frowned down by the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not start now?" urged Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The guide consulted the sun.</p>
+
+<p>"We might. It lacks all of three hours to dark."</p>
+
+<p>There was much enthusiasm in camp. The idea that they were to
+visit some unexplored caves, dwellings of an ancient people,
+filled the lads with pleasant expectancy.</p>
+
+<p>Before starting, Mr. Kringle sorted out some strong manila
+rope and several tent stakes all of which he did up into two
+bundles. Then he filled the magazine of his rifle, throwing this
+over his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that for?" questioned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"The gun?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't tell what we may run into in a cave, you know."</p>
+
+<p>After a final look at the camp all hands set out for the place
+indicated by Tad. It was only a short distance, so they decided
+to walk.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the base of the mountain they gazed up.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, those are cave dwellings," declared Kris Kringle. "And
+they are still closed. Probably they haven't been opened in two
+hundred years."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd hate to live there and have to go home in a dark night,"
+mused Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, how did they get to their houses?" wondered the other
+boys.</p>
+
+<p>"The question is, how are we going to get near enough to
+explore them? How shall we get up there, Mr. Guide?" asked the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll find a way. We shall have to climb the mountain,
+first."</p>
+
+<p>All hands began clambering up the rocks. To do so they were
+obliged to follow along the base of the mountain for some
+distance before they found a place that they could climb.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the top, the guide examined their surroundings
+carefully.</p>
+
+<p>"See those little projections of rock slanting down toward the
+shelf?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in the old days they probably felled a tree so it would
+fall on them. The occupants of the cave probably cut steps in the
+tree trunk over which to travel up and down. The tree has rotted
+away many years since."</p>
+
+<p>"And we can't get down, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll find a way, Master Walter. I thought I should be able
+to make a rope ladder that would work, but I see it is not
+practicable."</p>
+
+<p>"How shall we do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Try the old way, I guess, Master Tad."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"The tree."</p>
+
+<p>"But there are no trees near here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there are, a few rods back. We are all strong and I
+guess we shall be able to make a pretty fair pair of steps."</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle had brought an axe with him. With this he cut
+some long, straight poles which, he explained, were intended for
+pike poles such as woodsmen use to roll logs. This done, he began
+industriously chopping at the tree after deciding upon the exact
+position in which he desired it to fall.</p>
+
+<p>"It won't reach," declared Chunky, who, with hands in pockets,
+legs spread wide apart, stood looking up at the flaring top of
+the great tree.</p>
+
+<p>The guide stopped chopping long enough to squint at the fat
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>"It'll reach you all right, if you stay where you are," he
+said, then resumed his vigorous blows.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy promptly took the hint and moved a safe distance
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"Get from under!" shouted the guide finally. One more blow
+would send the tree crashing downward.</p>
+
+<p>All hands scrambled for safety. One powerful blow from the
+axe, and with a crashing and rending, the great tree began its
+descent. When it struck the onlookers fully expected to see it
+broken into many pieces, but the bushy top, hitting the rocks
+first, broke the blow, and the body of the tree settled down
+gently without even breaking its bark.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine! Hurrah!" shouted the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"It won't reach to the edge. Going to pull it over?"
+questioned Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly, but we're going to get it there. Perhaps we
+shall not have it in place in time to explore the caves to-night,
+but we shall be ready to do so early in the morning. It took our
+friends longer to do this job, two hundred years or more ago,
+than it will take us. We have better tools to work with."</p>
+
+<p>"And better bosses," suggested Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>Some little time was consumed in chopping the tree loose from
+its stump, after which the guide worked the pike poles under the
+trunk at intervals near the base. The others watched these
+operations with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Now here is where you young gentlemen will have a chance to
+show how strong you are. Each one grab a pike pole," Kringle
+directed.</p>
+
+<p>"Shan't I go hold the top down?" asked Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You just grab a pike pole and get busy!" laughed Mr.
+Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't get out of work quite so easy as you thought," scoffed
+Ned. "This is where we make you earn your supper."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't have to earn it. Had it already."</p>
+
+<p>"There are other meals coming," smiled the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, heo&mdash;he!"</p>
+
+<p>All raised on the pike poles at the same time with the result
+that the tree was forced down the gentle incline several feet.
+This was repeated again and again, the boys pausing to cheer
+after every lift.</p>
+
+<p>The tree being now perilously near the edge of the cliff Kris
+Kringle called a halt. Next he fastened a rope around the top and
+another around the base, taking a turn around a rock with each.
+One boy was placed on each rope, the others at the pike poles,
+while the guide stood at the edge giving directions.</p>
+
+<p>The tree trunk gently slipped over under his guidance and a
+few minutes later rested on the projecting rocks, that were just
+high enough to hold it in place.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't take much to send it over, but I guess it will be
+perfectly safe," he mused.</p>
+
+<p>"May we go down now?" cried the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I'll make some steps first."</p>
+
+<p>He did so with the axe, chopping out scoop-shaped places for
+steps, until finally he had reached the rock in front of the cave
+dwellings.</p>
+
+<p>The tree lay at an easy slope, its bushy top partly resting on
+the ledge, the latter being some eight feet deep by ten feet
+wide.</p>
+
+<p>Running up the log Mr. Kringle made another rope fast at the
+top, throwing the free end over.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on to the rope while you are going down and you'll be in
+no danger of falling," he warned.</p>
+
+<p>The boys scrambled down the tree like so many squirrels, the
+Professor following somewhat more cautiously.</p>
+
+<p>The explorers found themselves not more than twenty feet from
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Not much of a door yard. Where's the garden?" wondered Stacy,
+looking about him curiously.</p>
+
+<p>The entrance to the cave dwelling was blocked by a huge
+boulder, that completely filled the opening. How it had been
+gotten there none could say. The only possible explanation was
+that the boulder had been found on the shelf and applied to the
+purpose of protecting the cave dwellers' home.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we're here, we can't get in," grumbled Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing is impossible," answered Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Except one thing."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that, Master Ned?"</p>
+
+<p>"To hammer the least little bit of sense into the head of my
+friend, Chunky Brown."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't have to, that's why," retorted Stacy quickly. "It
+has all the sense it'll hold, now."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess that will be about all for you, Ned," laughed Walter.
+"At least, Chunky didn't foul the dinner table when he jumped
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The guide, in the meantime, was experimenting with the
+boulder, inserting a pike pole here and there in an effort to
+move the big stone. It remained in place as solidly as if it had
+grown there.</p>
+
+<p>"There's some trick about the thing, I know, but what it is
+gets me. Better stand back, all of you, in case it comes out all
+of a sudden," Mr. Kringle warned them.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the boulder did come out, and it kept on
+coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out!" bellowed the guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Low bridge!" howled Stacy, hopping to one side and crouching
+against the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>The guide had sprung nimbly to one side as well. The big rock
+had popped out like a pea from a pod. Instead of stopping,
+however, it continued to roll on toward the edge.</p>
+
+<p>"Hug the rocks! She's going down!" shouted the guide.</p>
+
+<p>Go down it did, with a crash that seemed to shake the
+mountain. Rolling to the edge of the shelf, it had toppled over,
+taking a large strip of shelving rock with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" howled Chunky;</p>
+
+<p>The other boys uttered no sound, though their faces were a
+little more pale than usual.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle stepped to the edge, peering over.</p>
+
+<p>"No one will get that up here again, right away," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"The cave, the cave!" shouted Walter.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone turned, gazing half in awe at the dark opening that
+the removal of the stone had revealed&mdash;an opening that had
+been closed for probably more than two centuries.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII</h3>
+
+<h4>FACING THE ENEMY'S GUNS</h4>
+
+<p>"Do we go in?" asked the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, I'll get some light inside first," answered the prudent
+guide. "Can't tell whether we shall want to go in or not."</p>
+
+<p>He built up a small fire within, then called to the others
+that they might enter. They crowded in hastily, finding
+themselves in a fairly large chamber, at the far end of which was
+a sort of natural alcove in the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>The remnants of a fire still lay at one side, where the last
+meal of the ancient dweller had probably been cooked. Several
+crude looking utensils lay about, together with a number of
+pieces of ancient pottery.</p>
+
+<p>"This is, indeed, a rare find!" exclaimed the Professor,
+carrying the precious jars out into the light for closer
+examination.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky, about that time, pounced upon an object which proved
+to be a copper hatchet.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurray for George Washington!" he shouted, brandishing the
+crude tool. "The man who never told&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We've heard that before," objected Ned. "Give us something
+new, Chunky, if you've <i>got</i> to talk."</p>
+
+<p>The Professor came in, searching for other curios just as
+Stacy went out to examine his "little axe," as he was pleased to
+call it. He tried the edge of it on the ledge to find out if the
+stone would dull it, but it did not.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll use that to cut nails and wire with when I get back
+home," decided the boy. "Guess I'll chop my name in the side of
+the mountain here." Stacy proceeded to do so, the others being
+too much engrossed in their explorations to know or care what he
+was about. He succeeded very well, both in making letters on the
+wall and in putting several nicks in the edge of his new-found
+hatchet.</p>
+
+<p>He was thus engaged when all at once something struck the axe
+hurling it from his hand. At the same instant a rifle crashed off
+somewhere below and to the southeast of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch!" exclaimed the fat boy holding his hand. "Wonder who
+did that?" His mind had not coupled the shot with the blow on the
+hatchet.</p>
+
+<p>Bang!</p>
+
+<p>A bullet flattened itself close to his head, against the
+rock.</p>
+
+<p>With a howl, the lad threw himself down on the ledge.</p>
+
+<p>At that instant Kris Kringle sprang to the opening of the
+cave.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" he snapped.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Somebody knocked the axe out of my hand then
+shot at me."</p>
+
+<p>The guide discovered the trouble right there. A bullet snipped
+his hat from his head; and, striking the ceiling of the
+cave-home, dropped to the floor with a dull clatter.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle ducked with amazing quickness. Crawling back into
+the cave, he reached for his own rifle and then sought the
+opening, taking good care not to expose himself to the fire of
+the unseen enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy, on his part, had lost no time in getting to a place of
+safety inside, though he was prudent enough to crawl instead of
+getting up and walking in."</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean? It can't be possible that anyone is
+deliberately shooting at us?" questioned Professor Zepplin in
+undisguised amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"If you doubt it step outside," suggested Kris Kringle.
+"Master Stacy and myself know what they tried to do, don't we,
+lad?"</p>
+
+<p>"We do."</p>
+
+<p>The fat boy again swelled with importance.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out you don't swell up so big you'll break your
+harness," warned Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"Better break it than have it shot off," mumbled Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Who can it be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say, Professor."</p>
+
+<p>"It's our friends from the fire dance," was Tad's expressed
+conviction.</p>
+
+<p>"Told you they'd be here," nodded Chunky. "Why don't you shoot
+at them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Going to, in a minute. Got to find out where they are
+first."</p>
+
+<p>Now the lads were excited in earnest. Some one was shooting at
+them, and the guide was going to fire back. This was more than
+they had expected when they visited the home of the
+cave-dweller.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me take a crack at 'em," begged Chunky. "I owe 'em
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Stacy, you will do nothing of the sort," reproved the
+Professor sternly. "The idea!"</p>
+
+<p>"No; if there's any shooting to be done I'll do it," announced
+Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"And Santa Claus isn't shooting with any toy gun, this time,"
+chuckled Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you see the camp, to know if anyone is there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but only part of it, Professor. I wish you would all get
+over into the right hand corner there and lie flat on the floor.
+I'm going to try to draw their fire so that I can locate them.
+Can't afford to waste ammunition until we are reasonably sure
+where our mark is."</p>
+
+<p>The others quickly got into the position indicated.</p>
+
+<p>Placing his hat on one of the pike poles, Kringle slowly
+pushed it outside.</p>
+
+<p>There was no result, The ruse failed to draw the enemy's
+fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they've gone. We're a lot of babies," jeered Ned, jumping
+up and starting for the opening.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle gave him a push with the butt of the rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"Want, to get shot full of holes? Wait! I'll show you."</p>
+
+<p>The guide sprang up, showing himself out on the ledge for one
+brief instant then throwing himself flat.</p>
+
+<p>A sharp "ping" against the rocks, followed by a heavy report,
+told the story. The guide had been not a second too soon in
+getting out of harm's way, for the bullet would have gone right
+through him had be remained standing.</p>
+
+<p>Quick as a flash Kringle's rifle leaped to his shoulder, and
+he fired. He had taken quick aim at a puff of smoke off toward
+the camp.</p>
+
+<p>Not content with one shot he raked the bushes all about where
+the puff of smoke had been seen, emptying the magazine of the
+rifle in a few seconds.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy Brown was fairly dancing with glee.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hit anything?" asked the boys breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I hit something; but whether I winged an Indian or
+not, I don't know. If I did, he probably is not seriously
+wounded. You'll hear a redskin yell when he's hit bad."</p>
+
+<p>"That one I punched didn't. He was hit hard," volunteered
+Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't have time," grinned Tad. "You were too quick for
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Look out! There comes a volley!" warned Mr. Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>The boys, led by the Professor tumbled into the corner in a
+heap, while the lead pattered in through the opening, rattling
+with great force like a handful of pebbles.</p>
+
+<p>"They're getting in a hurry," averred the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"It's growing dark. They want to finish us before then, so we
+can't play any tricks on them after that. But, if they only knew
+it, and they probably do, they've got us beautifully trapped. One
+man below and another at the other end of our tree would be able
+to keep us here till the springs run dry. If there's only two of
+them there, as I suspect is the case, they may not want to
+separate. We'll see, the minute it gets dark enough so that we
+can move about without being observed."</p>
+
+<p>Some of the sage brush that Kris Kringle had brought down to
+light up the cave lay outside on the ledge. Using one of the
+poles, he cautiously raked the stuff inside, heaping it up not
+far from the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"What you doing that for?" questioned Stacy, unable to conceal
+his curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll see, by-and-by, when we get ready to do something
+else. You don't think I'm going to stay here all night, do
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>There was no further firing on either side, though Mr. Kringle
+showed himself boldly several times.</p>
+
+<p>Finally Tad tried it, and was greeted with a shot the instant
+he appeared in the opening.</p>
+
+<p>"Must be me they're after," he suggested, with a forced grin,
+falling flat on the ledge, and wriggling back into the cave.</p>
+
+<p>The twilight was upon them now. The guide had been able to see
+the flash of the rifle below him, and had taken a quick shot at
+it when the enemy attempted to wing Tad Butler. Kringle had no
+means of knowing whether his shot had been effective or not.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to try something else in a few minutes, now," the
+guide told the Professor and the boys, "and I hope you all will
+do just as I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"You may depend upon our doing exactly that," answered the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to crawl out of here. The rest of you remain here
+until I call to you to come out, no matter if it is until
+morning. After I have been gone about ten minutes, light a match
+and toss it into the heap of sage there, but watch out that you
+don't get into the light. Throw the match. You're liable to be
+shot if you show yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should we make a fire and thus make targets of
+ourselves?" protested Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"That is to cover Mr. Kringle's retreat," Tad informed
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. Master Tad, you may come along with me if you
+wish."</p>
+
+<p>Tad jumped at the offer.</p>
+
+<p>"But not a sound. Ask me no questions. Follow a rod or so
+behind me, and walk low down all the time. If you make a mistake
+it may result seriously for you and your friends. And, another
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Should there be any shooting, throw yourself on the ground.
+You will not be as likely to be hit there."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll obey orders, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it."</p>
+
+<p>"When do we start?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we can do so now, as safely as at any time. The
+rascals will not be likely to be on the mountain just yet,
+because it is not dark enough. Yes; we'll go now."</p>
+
+<p>Tad waited until Kris Kringle had crawled from the cave, then
+lay down on his stomach and wriggled out on the ledge.</p>
+
+<p>There were no signs of the enemy and the camp-fire of the Pony
+Rider Boys glowed dimly down below. Tad, peering off into the
+gloom, for the moon had not yet risen, thought he saw a figure
+flit by the fire. He could not be sure, however. He wished he
+might tell the guide of his fancied discovery; but, remembering
+the injunction for absolute silence, he said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, Tad's arms were about the log. From the slight
+vibration he knew that Kris Kringle was somewhere between himself
+and the top, yet not a sound did the guide make. Tad made no
+more, and they would have been keen ears, indeed, that could have
+detected our friends' presence by sound alone.</p>
+
+<p>When the lad finally reached the top a hand was laid on his
+shoulder. The touch gave him a violent start in spite of his
+steady nerves.</p>
+
+<p>"You're all right," whispered the voice of Kris Kringle.
+"You'd make a good Indian. I want to explain something that I
+didn't wish the others to hear."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I have only one shell left in my rifle. That's why I wanted
+you to go along. If, by any chance, the rascals should get me,
+you lie low. They'll make for the cave, as they know, by this
+time, that there is only one rifle in the party. The minute they
+do, should such an emergency arise, slide for the camp and get
+your gun. You'll know what to do with it. It'll be a case of
+saving the lives of your companions if it comes to that."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," answered Tad bravely; and without a quaver in
+his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Mind you, I don't think for a minute that it will happen. I
+can handle these fellows if I get the lay of the land. Keep close
+enough to hear me."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not so easy."</p>
+
+<p>"No; but you'll know. When I stop you do the same."</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX</h3>
+
+<h4>OUTWITTING THE REDSKINS</h4>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle moved away without another word. His abrupt
+departure was the signal for the Pony Rider boy to start, which
+he did instantly.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes Tad was skulking along the top of the
+mountain, when he ran into the guide again.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the report of a rifle sounded down below them.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they shooting at us?" whispered Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"No; the boys have lighted the fire in the cave. Our friends
+down below took a pot shot at the blaze. Hope they didn't hit
+anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"Chunky would be the only one to get in the way, and I imagine
+the others would hold him back."</p>
+
+<p>"Come this way; we'll go down by a different trail. The
+redskins are watching the fire in the cave, but they may be
+keeping an eye on the trail at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>Silently the man and the boy took their way along the rough,
+uneven path, slowly working down into the valley. They soon
+reached this, for the range was low there.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the foothills, the two scouts once more fell into
+single file, Tad Butler to the rear. He knew that the guide's
+rifle ahead of him was ready for instant use, and at any second
+now Tad expected to see the flash of a gun.</p>
+
+<p>The lad was not afraid, but he was all a-quiver with
+excitement. This stalking an enemy in the dark, not knowing at
+what minute that enemy might make the attack, was not the same as
+a stand-up fight in broad daylight. Tad wondered why the guide
+had not permitted the rest of the party to escape while they had
+the opportunity. He did not know that Kris Kringle fully expected
+an ambush, nor that two would stand a better chance to get
+through and out-wit the savages than would half a dozen of them.
+The pair had approached nearly to the camp, for which the guide
+was heading, when suddenly a hand was laid on the boy's arm in a
+firm grip. Tad knew the guide had seen or heard something.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"There!"</p>
+
+<p>In the faint light of the camp-fire the lad, gazing where Kris
+Kringle had pointed, was astonished to see a figure seated at
+their table. From his motions it was evident that the intruder
+was stowing away the stolen fool at a great rate.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that one of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"He'll have indigestion, the way he's eating. Hope he doesn't
+swallow the dishes, too."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to find the other one. You crawl as close to the
+camp as you can with safety. If you hear a disturbance, dive for
+the tents the instant that fellow starts. He'll move if he hears
+any noise. Get a gun and hurry to me, but be quiet about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Remember your instructions. I may be able to handle both of
+them, but if I don't get the missing one at the first crack I
+shan't be able to take care of them both. You'll have to help me.
+Got the nerve?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not afraid," whispered the boy steadily. "And I've got
+some muscle as well."</p>
+
+<p>"That's evident. I'm off now."</p>
+
+<p>Tad was left alone. This time he could feel the guide's
+movements, as the latter slipped away on the soft earth. But in a
+moment all sound was lost,</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll crawl up nearer, so as to be handy if anything
+occurs," decided the lad, creeping along on all fours. He could
+not see the light in the camp now, but he reasoned that the man
+at the table was sitting with his back to it, as near as Tad
+could judge of direction in the dark. The Indian seemed not to
+fear a surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what comes from overconfidence," grinned the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had something to defend myself with," he added after
+a pause.</p>
+
+<p>Tad had no sooner expressed his wish, than his fingers closed
+over some object on the ground. He grasped it with about the same
+hopefulness that a dying man will grasp at a straw.</p>
+
+<p>What he had found was a heavy tent stake, one that Kris
+Kringle had dropped from his bundle on the way to the cliff
+dweller's home.</p>
+
+<p>The lad breathed a prayer of thankfulness and crept on with
+renewed courage.</p>
+
+<p>He proceeded as far as he dared; then, lay still, listening
+for the noise of the expected conflict between the guide and the
+other red man.</p>
+
+<p>It came. The sound was like that of a body falling
+heavily.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the Indian at the table turned his head, listening
+inquiringly. He made a half motion to rise, glanced at the table,
+then sat down again and began to eat.</p>
+
+<p>"His appetite has overcome his judgment," grinned Tad. The lad
+could hear the faint sound of conflict somewhere to the rear of
+him. He was getting uneasy and began to fidget.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the red man sprang up, starting on a run, trailing
+Stacy's rifle behind him. He was headed directly for the place
+where Tad lay flattened on the ground, though the lad felt sure
+his enemy did not see him.</p>
+
+<p>But when the Indian suddenly sprang up into the air to avoid
+stepping on the object that lay there, Tad knew that further
+secrecy was useless. The redskin had jumped right over him,
+dropping Chunky's rifle as he leaped. The gun fell on the Pony
+Rider boy and for a second hindered his movements.</p>
+
+<p>But Tad was up like a flash, while the Indian whirled no less
+quickly, knife unsheathed, ready for battle.</p>
+
+<p>This was where Tad's tent stake came in handy. Without it he
+would have been in a much more serious fix. It was bad enough as
+it was.</p>
+
+<p>Without an instant's hesitation the lad brought the stake down
+on the wrist of the hand that held the knife. The knife fell to
+the ground, while the Indian, with a half-suppressed howl, sprang
+at the slender lad. Though the fellow's wrist was well-nigh
+useless at that moment, he was as full of fight as ever.</p>
+
+<p>Tad stepped nimbly aside and tried to trip his adversary, but
+the Indian was too sharp to be caught that way.</p>
+
+<p>"If he ever gets those arms around me I'm a goner," thought
+Tad, taking mental measure of his antagonist.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the Indian swooped down, making a grab for the rifle
+that he had dropped.</p>
+
+<p>As the redskin stooped, Tad hit him a wallop on the head with
+the tent stake. It must have made the savage see a shower of
+stars.</p>
+
+<p>At least, it staggered him so he was glad to let the weapon
+remain where it was. For a few seconds the air was full of flying
+legs and arms, during which the boy landed three times on the red
+man, being himself unhurt.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Indian succeeded in rushing into a clinch, and Tad
+found himself gripped in those arms of steel. Wriggle and twist
+as be would he could not free himself from their embrace. His
+adversary, on the other hand, found himself fully occupied in
+holding on to his slippery young antagonist, giving him neither
+time nor opportunity effectually to dispose of the slender
+lad.</p>
+
+<p>Tad was unusually muscular for his years, to which was added
+no little skill as wrestler. The Indian soon discovered both
+these qualities. And, at about that time, the lad was resorting
+to every trick he knew to place the Indian in a position where he
+could be thrown.</p>
+
+<p>The moment came with disconcerting suddenness, and Mr. Redman
+uttered a loud grunt as he landed on the ground, flat on his
+back. With a spring he lifted himself up, and the next instant he
+had thrown the slight figure of the Pony Rider Boy so heavily
+that everything about Tad grew black. He felt himself going. Then
+all at once he lost consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>When finally he awakened, Tad found a figure still bending
+over him.</p>
+
+<p>Quick as a flash the boy's arms went up, encircling the neck
+of the man kneeling by him. The next instant the fellow was on
+his back, with Tad sitting on his chest.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here! What's the matter with you?" gasped a muffled
+voice, which Tad instantly recognized.</p>
+
+<p>"Kris Kringle!" he gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and you nearly knocked the breath out of me," grinned
+the guide, struggling to his feet. "Well, you certainly are a
+whirlwind."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I thought you were the Indian," mattered Tad in a
+sheepish tone.</p>
+
+<p>"If it had been, there would have been no need for my
+interference."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Over there, tied up. Both of them are. We'll decide what to
+do with them when we get the party together."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me what happened," begged Tad.</p>
+
+<p>The other fellow was so busy watching the cave that he forgot
+to keep his ears open. I was able to approach him without being
+detected. When I got near enough I laid the butt of my rifle over
+his head. No, I didn't hurt him much. Just made him curl up on
+the ground long enough to enable me to tie his hands and
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>"About that time I caught the sound of something going on over
+here. I made a run, suspecting that you were mixing it up with
+the other redskin. Guess I was just in time, too, for he had you
+down and was reaching for something&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"His knife," nodded Tad. "It's somewhere around here now."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I gave him the same medicine that I had given the
+other. Now we'd better go and call the others."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. I'd have been in a bad fix, if you hadn't come as
+you did."</p>
+
+<p>"So might I, had you not stopped the second one. We're quits
+then," said the guide, extending his hand, which Tad grasped
+warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll call the others, if you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>Tad ran over to the base of the cliff, and shouted loudly for
+his companions. In half an hour the party had gathered about the
+camp fire, engaged in an animated discussion over the stirring
+experiences of the evening.</p>
+
+<p>It was decided that the Indians should be placed on their
+ponies, to which they were to be tied, with hands free and
+provisions enough to last them until they reached their
+reservation in the northern part of the state;</p>
+
+<p>The guide restored their rifles to them after first taking
+their ammunition and transferring it to his own kit.</p>
+
+<p>"I've wasted nearly that much on you," he said. "And, if ever
+you ride across my trail again, I'll use your own lead on you in
+a way that will stop you. You won't need bullets like these in
+the Happy Hunting Grounds, where you'll be going. Now, git!"</p>
+
+<p>And they did. The redskins rode as if a ghost were pursuing
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the last, we shall see of those gentlemen," laughed
+Kris Kringle. "To-morrow morning we shall be on our way in
+peace."</p>
+
+<p>But the trail of the Pony Rider Boys was not to be all peace.
+Before them&mdash;ere they reached the end of the Silver
+Trail&mdash;they were to find other thrilling experiences
+awaiting them.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XX</h3>
+
+<h4>TILTING FOR THE SILVER SPURS</h4>
+
+<p>Their journey led the young horsemen across the plains, over
+low-lying ranges, across broad, barren table-lands and down
+through the bottom lands until the wide sweep of the Rio Grande
+River at last lay before them.</p>
+
+<p>After the weeks of arid landscape the sight of water, and so
+much of it, brought a loud cheer from the Pony Rider Boys. The
+next thing was to find a fording place. This they did late in the
+afternoon of the same day, and their further journey took them to
+the little desert town of Puraje.</p>
+
+<p>They camped on the outskirts of the village.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's where we get a real bath. Who's going in swimming with
+me?" asked Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"I am," shouted all the boys at once.</p>
+
+<p>The Professor and Kris Kringle concluded that they, too, would
+take a dip, and a merry hour was spent in a protected cove of the
+big river, where the boys proved themselves as much at home as
+they were in the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, they purchased such supplies as the town
+afforded. The night passed with-out disturbance, the boys taking
+up their journey next morning before the sleepy town had
+awakened.</p>
+
+<p>It was a week later, when, tired and dusty, the outfit pulled
+up at La Luz, a quaint hamlet nestling in the foothills of the
+Sacramento Mountains. The place they found to be largely Mexican,
+and it was almost as if the visitors had slipped over the border
+to find themselves in Mexico itself.</p>
+
+<p>Decorations were in evidence on all sides; bright-colored
+mantillas, Indian blankets and flags were everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, I guess something is going on here," laughed Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"We are in time, whatever it is," nodded the guide. "Probably
+it's a feast of some kind. You will be interested in it, if that
+is what it is.</p>
+
+<p>The feast, they learned, was to be celebrated on the morrow
+with games, feats of strength and horsemanship.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think they will let us take part?" asked Tad, as the
+party made camp in the yard of a little adobe church, where they
+had obtained permission to camp.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see about it," answered the guide. "There may be reasons
+why it would not be best to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe I can win another rifle," suggested Chunky.</p>
+
+<p>"These people don't give away rifles. They're too&mdash;
+too&mdash;what do you call it?&mdash;too artistic. That's
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The camp being on the main street of the village, attracted no
+little attention. After sundown, crowds of gayly bedecked young
+people strolled up and stood about the church yard, watching the
+American boys pitching their tents and preparing for their stay
+over night.</p>
+
+<p>The villagers were especially interested in watching the boys
+get their supper, which was served up steaming hot within fifteen
+minutes after preparations had begun. Chunky had bought several
+pies at the store, which, with a pound of cheese brought in by
+Ned, made a pleasant change in the daily routine.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky started in on the pie.</p>
+
+<p>Ned calmly reached over and took it away from him; then the
+supper went along until it came time for the dessert, when Chunky
+fixed his eyes on the cheese suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"See anything wrong with that cheese?" demanded Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I've got an idea."</p>
+
+<p>"Out with it! You won't rest easy until you do. What's your
+idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking, if I had a camera, I could make a motion
+picture of that cheese. I heard of a fellow once&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That will do, Master Stacy," warned Professor Zepplin.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't I talk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Along proper lines&mdash;yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Cheese is proper, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Depends upon how old it is," chuckled Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't make fun of my cheese. Here give it to me; I'll
+eat it."</p>
+
+<p>"You're welcome to it, Ned," laughed the boys.</p>
+
+<p>The fun went on, much to the amusement of the villagers, who
+remained near by until the evening was well along and the lads
+began preparing for bed. Next morning the visitors began coming
+in to town early. There were men from the ranches, Mexican
+ranch-hands arrayed in bright colors and displaying expensive
+saddle trimmings. There were others from the wild places on the
+desert, far beyond the water limits, whose means of livelihood
+were known only to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>It was a strange company, and one that appealed considerably
+to the curiosity of the Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<p>The early part of the day was given over to racing, roping,
+gambling and other sports in which the lads were content to take
+no part. But there was an event scheduled for the afternoon that
+interested Tad more than all the rest. That was a tilting bout,
+open to all comers. A tilting arch had been erected in the middle
+of the main street, and had been decorated with flags and
+greens.</p>
+
+<p>The tilting ring, suspended from the top of the arch, was not
+more than an inch in diameter. The horseman who could impale it
+on his tilting peg and carry the ring away with him the greatest,
+number of times, would be declared the winner. Each one was to be
+given five chances.</p>
+
+<p>The prize, a pair of silver spurs, was to be presented by the
+belle of the town, a dark-eyed se&ntilde;orita.</p>
+
+<p>The guide had entered Tad in this contest; but, as the lad
+glanced up at the ring only an inch in diameter, he grew rather
+dubious. He never had seen any tilting, and did not even know how
+the sport was conducted.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle gave the lad some instructions about the method
+employed by the tilters, and Tad decided to enter the
+contest.</p>
+
+<p>Only ten horsemen entered, most of these being either Mexicans
+or halfbreeds.</p>
+
+<p>The first trial over, five of the contestants had succeeded in
+carrying away the ring.</p>
+
+<p>Tad had waited until nearly the last in order to get all the
+information possible as to the way the rest of the contestants
+played the game. A pole had been loaned to him, or rather a
+"peg," they called it, eight feet long, tapered so as to allow it
+to go through the brass ring for fully two feet of its
+length.</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider boy took his place in the middle of the street,
+and without the least hesitancy, galloped down toward the ring,
+which, indeed, he could not even see. When within a few feet of
+the arch he caught the sparkle of the ring.</p>
+
+<p>His lance came up, and putting spurs to his broncho, he shot
+under the arch, driving the point of the peg full at the slender
+circle. The point struck the edge sending the ring swaying like
+the pendulum of a clock.</p>
+
+<p>A howl greeted his achievement. Tad said nothing, but riding
+slowly back, awaited his next trial.</p>
+
+<p>The rule was that when one of the contestants made a strike,
+he was to continue until he failed. He would be allowed to run
+out five points in succession if he could.</p>
+
+<p>"Rest the peg against your side, and lightly," advised a man,
+as Tad turned into the street for another try. The man was past
+middle age, and, though dressed in the garb of a man of the
+plains, Tad decided at once that he was not of the same type as
+most of the motley mob by which he was surrounded.</p>
+
+<p>The lad nodded his understanding.</p>
+
+<p>With a sharp little cry of warning, the boy put spurs to his
+pony. He fairly flew down the course. No such speed had been seen
+there that day. The northern bronchos that the boys were riding
+were built for faster work and possessed more spirit than their
+brothers of the desert.</p>
+
+<p>As he neared the arch, this time, the lad half rose in his
+stirrups. He knew where to look for the ring now. Leaning
+slightly forward he let the point of the peg tilt ever so little.
+It went through the ring, tearing it from its slender fastening
+and carrying it away.</p>
+
+<p>Loud shouts of approval greeted his achievement.</p>
+
+<p>Once more he raced down the lane, this time at so fast a clip
+that the faces of the spectators who lined the course were a mere
+blur in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He felt the slight jar and heard the click as the ring slipped
+over the tilting peg.</p>
+
+<p>"Two," announced the scorer.</p>
+
+<p>He missed the next one. Then the others took their turn. Only
+one of these succeeded in scoring. He was one of the Mexicans who
+made such a brave show of color in raiment and saddle cloth.</p>
+
+<p>"That gives the se&ntilde;or and the boy three apiece. Each
+has one turn left. The others will fall out. If neither scores in
+his turn, both will be ruled out and the others will compete for
+the prize," announced the scorer.</p>
+
+<p>The Mexican smiled a supercilious smile, as much as to say,
+"The idea of a long-legged, freckle-faced boy defeating me!" The
+Mexican was an expert at the game of tilting as it was practised
+on the desert.</p>
+
+<p>The man took the first turn. He sat quietly on his pony a
+moment before starting, placing the lance at just the proper
+angle&mdash;then galloped at the mark. He, too, rose in his
+stirrups. The spectators were silent.</p>
+
+<p>The ring just missed being impaled on the tilting peg,
+slipping along the pole half way then bounding up into the
+air.</p>
+
+<p>The spectators groaned. The Mexican had lost.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was Tad's turn.</p>
+
+<p>He rode as if it were an everyday occurrence with him to tilt,
+only he went at it with a rash that fairly took their breath
+away.</p>
+
+<p>Just as he was about to drive at the ring, some one uttered a
+wild yell and a sombrero hurled from the crowd, struck Tad fairly
+across the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Of course he lost, and, for a moment, he could not see a
+thing. He pulled his pony to a quick stop and sat rubbing and
+blinking his smarting eyes.</p>
+
+<p>A howl of disapproval went up from the spectators. None seemed
+to know whether the act had been inspired by enthusiasm or
+malice. Tad was convinced that it was the latter. His face was
+flushed, but the lad made no comment.</p>
+
+<p>"You are entitled to another tilt," called the scorer.</p>
+
+<p>To this the Mexican objected loudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Under the circumstances, as my opponent objects, and as we
+all wish to prevent hard feelings, why not give him a chance as
+well? If he wins I shall be satisfied."</p>
+
+<p>A shout of approval greeted Tad's suggestion. This was the
+real sportsman-like spirit, and it appealed to them.</p>
+
+<p>The proposition was agreed to. But again the Mexican lost.</p>
+
+<p>"If the young man is interfered with this time, I shall award
+the prize to him and end the tournament," warned the scorer.</p>
+
+<p>Though Tad's eyes were smarting from the blow of the sombrero,
+he allowed the eyelids to droop well over them, thus protecting
+them from the dust and at the same time giving him a clearer
+vision.</p>
+
+<p>On his next turn, Tad tore down the narrow lane; he shot
+between the posts like an arrow, and the tilting peg was driven
+far into the narrow hoop, wedging the ring on so firmly that it
+afterwards required force to loosen and remove it.</p>
+
+<p>Without halting his pony, Tad rode on, out a circle and came
+back at a lively gallop, pulling up before the stand of dry goods
+boxes, where the young woman who was to award the prize stood
+swinging her handkerchief, while the spectators set up a
+deafening roar of applause.</p>
+
+<p>Tad was holding the tilting peg aloft, displaying the ring
+wedged on it. He made the young woman a sweeping bow, his
+sombrero almost touching the ground as he did so.</p>
+
+<p>Another shout went up when the handsome spurs were handed to
+him, which the enthusiastic young woman first wrapped in her own
+handkerchief before passing the prize over to him. And amid the
+din, Tad heard the familiar "Oh, Wow! Wow!" in the shrill voice
+of Stacy Brown.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXI</h3>
+
+<h4>THE FAT BOY'S DISCOVERY</h4>
+
+<p>"I saw him! I saw him, Tad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Saw who, Chunky?"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you, I did. Don't you s'pose I know what my eyes tell
+me in confidence. Don't you to go to contradicting to me."</p>
+
+<p>Stacy had fairly overwhelmed Tad Butler with the importance of
+his discovery; but, thus far, Tad had not the least idea what it
+was all about.</p>
+
+<p>"When you get quieted down perhaps you'll be good enough to
+tell me who it is you saw?"</p>
+
+<p>"The man, the man!"</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! That's about as clear as the water in an alkali sink.
+What man?"</p>
+
+<p>"The one we saw on the train. Don't you know?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad thought a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean the one we heard talking just before we got to
+Bluewater?" Butler had entirely forgotten the incident.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's him! That's him," exploded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You say that fellow&mdash;Lasar, that's his name&mdash;is he
+here!"</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-huh."</p>
+
+<p>"Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"He got off the stage down by the postoffice, just when I was
+coming up here."</p>
+
+<p>"Was he alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"The other fellow wasn't with him, if that's what you
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." Tad went over in his mind the conversation the man
+Lasar had held with his companion, in which the pair were
+plotting against some one by the name of Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, Chunky, it's none of our concern. I think we must
+have magnified the incident. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He'll bear watching, Tad. He will and it's muh&mdash;
+muh&mdash;you understand who's going to do it," declared Chunky,
+swelling out his chest and tapping it with his right fist.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, go ahead," laughed Tad. "It's time some of us get
+into more trouble. The Professor will begin to think we've got a
+fever, or something, if we let two days in succession pass
+without stirring up something."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got an idea," exploded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"There you go. It's coming now."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go tell the policeman."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you ninny, there are no policemen here. Perhaps there is
+a sheriff. Hello, here comes the gentleman who gave me the advice
+that helped me to win those handsome spurs. He's introducing
+himself to the Professor and Mr. Kringle. Let's go over."</p>
+
+<p>Forgetting for the moment the subject they were discussing,
+Tad and Stacy strolled over to the camp-fire.</p>
+
+<p>"O Tad, this is Mr. Marquand, Mr. James Marquand from
+Albuquerque. He wants to know you. And this is another one of our
+Pony Rider Boys, Master Stacy Brown," said the Professor,
+presenting his boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Marquand!" exclaimed both boys under their breaths.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to know you, Master Butler. That was a very fine
+piece of work you did this afternoon. You've steady nerves."</p>
+
+<p>"If there's any credit due it is to you. Your suggestion
+helped me to win the prize. Without it I should have failed,"
+answered Tad generously.</p>
+
+<p>"Which way are you headed?" asked Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"Guadalupes," answered the guide. "The boys want to explore
+some of the old pueblos."</p>
+
+<p>"And I also," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I understand there
+is much of interest in them."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say so," muttered their guest.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like a few moments to speak with you in private, if you
+can spare the time," said Tad in a low voice, at the first
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>"At your service now, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"No; not here."</p>
+
+<p>"Then come to my room at the hotel. I'll fix it with the
+others," said Mr. Marquand, observing at once that the lad had
+some serious purpose in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend Chunky will go with me, if agreeable to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right. Professor, if you have no objection I
+should like to have these two young men go to my quarters with me
+for a little while. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Don't stay out too late, boys."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Wonder what they've got up their sleeves?" muttered Ned,
+watching the receding figures of his two companions and Mr.
+Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"You may talk," smiled the latter after they were well
+started.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather not until we are where we shall not be overheard,"
+answered Tad promptly.</p>
+
+<p>All three fell silent. The boys followed their host to his
+room, apparently without having been observed. The little village
+was too full of its own pleasures to notice.</p>
+
+<p>"Be seated, boys. I take for granted that neither of you
+smoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what can I do for you? I am sure you have something of
+importance to yourselves on your minds."</p>
+
+<p>"Not to us specially. Perhaps to you, though," replied
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed?"</p>
+
+<p>"We may be foolish. If so, you will understand that we have no
+motive beyond a desire to serve you."</p>
+
+<p>"That goes without saying."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know a man by the name of Lasar&mdash;Bob Lasar, Mr.
+Marquand?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand started, eyeing both lads questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he is associated with me in a business venture."</p>
+
+<p>"Told you so," interjected Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"What of him?"</p>
+
+<p>Tad wished he was well out of it all. To be obliged to tell
+all he knew of Bob Lasar, and to the latter's partner, was rather
+a troublesome undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>Plucking up courage, Tad briefly related all that he and his
+companion had overheard on the train as they were approaching
+Bluewater to all of which their host listened with grave
+attention and increasing interest.</p>
+
+<p>"The incident probably would not have come back to me again
+but for certain things that happened to-day," Tad continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Would either of you know Lasar were you to see him again, do
+you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend Chunky Brown saw him here to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Saw him get out of the stage in front of this very hotel,"
+nodded Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right. He is here. Mr. Lasar had stopped off at a
+near-by town on a personal matter. Can you describe the man whom
+you saw with him on the train?"</p>
+
+<p>"As I remember him, he was slightly taller than Mr. Lasar,
+with red hair and a moustache of the same shade."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's Joe Comstock. No doubt about that," nodded Mr.
+Marquand. "You didn't hear them say what their plan was,
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not definitely. Only that they intended to rid themselves of
+you after having obtained possession of your plans for finding
+the treasure, or at least learning where it is hidden."</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand sat thoughtfully silent for several minutes, the
+lines of his face growing tense and hard. The boys could see that
+he was exerting, a strong effort to control himself.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you haven't told them your plans?" questioned Tad,
+in a subdued voice.</p>
+
+<p>"No. I was going to do so to-night, if Comstock had arrived.
+He may get in yet."</p>
+
+<p>"But you won't do so now&mdash;will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! I thank you, boys," exclaimed their host, extending an
+impulsive hand to each at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;then our information <i>is</i> going to be of some
+use to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"More than you can have any idea of. You have done me a
+greater service than you know. I thank you&mdash;thank you from
+the bottom of my heart! Perhaps, ere long I may be able to show
+my appreciation in a more substantial manner."</p>
+
+<p>Marquand ceased speaking abruptly and began pacing back and
+forth, hands thrust deep into his coat pockets. He was a man of
+slight build, but strong and wiry. He was well past middle age,
+erect and forceful. Looking at him, Tad found himself wondering
+how such a man could have gotten into the clutches of two such
+rascals as Bob Lasar and Joe Comstock. Tad hoped their host would
+offer some explanation, while Chunky was nearly bursting with
+curiosity. Mr. Marquand appeared to have forgotten their presence
+entirely.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we had better be going now," suggested Tad,
+rising.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait!" commanded their host. "Sit down! I have something to
+say to you. Then, perhaps, I'll walk back to your camp and have a
+talk with the Professor. What sort of man is your guide?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's a very fine man&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's my idea. What you heard on the train is borne out by
+several little things that have come under my observation within
+the last few days, but I did not think they would go as far as
+you have indicated. I will tell you frankly, that I expect the
+treasure which we hope to find to be a big one. How I happened to
+take these men in with me, in the search for it, is unnecessary
+to state. However, I am done with them, now, for good. They know
+that I have not put my information on paper, or else they might
+have made an end of me before this."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the treasure near this vicinity, Mr. Marquand?" asked
+Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"About two days' journey. I expect to find it at or near the
+ruins of an old Pueblo house. You know they built their homes one
+on top of another. Some of their adobe houses are six and seven
+stories high. Even if we locate the place, we may experience
+great difficulty in finding that of which we are in search. How
+would you boys like to join me? It will be an interesting
+experience for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Help&mdash;help you find the buried treasure?" questioned
+Chunky, his face red with suppressed excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Great!" chorused the lads.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll talk with Professor Zepplin. Come, we will go over to
+the camp now."</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Marquand and the Professor had finished their
+conference, Tad and Chunky leaned forward eagerly to learn the
+result.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," nodded Mr. Marquand; "you're all going to help me find
+the ancient Pueblo treasure."</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXII</h3>
+
+<h4>IN HAND-TO-HAND CONFLICT</h4>
+
+<p>"I'm done with you, Bob Lasar! And you, too, Comstock!"
+thundered Mr. Marquand, as the rascals stood at the door of his
+room some two hours later.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand had been waiting for them, and with him was Tad
+Butler, whom he had urged to accompany him back to the hotel that
+he might be a witness to what took place. Perhaps, too, Mr.
+Marquand reasoned that his former associates might not take the
+same attitude toward him in the presence of the boy that they
+might otherwise take.</p>
+
+<p>The two men had halted in the doorway as Mr. Marquand hurled
+his decision at them.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar shoved his companion into the room and closed the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down, both of you! So you thought to hoodwink me&mdash;to
+get the secret of the treasure and then put me out of the way,
+eh? That was your game, was it? Well, it's all off now. I'll have
+nothing further to do with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;why, Mr. Marquand, it's all a mistake!" began one
+of the pair.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you'll deny having plotted against me on a train on
+your way to Bluewater."</p>
+
+<p>"I deny ever having tried to put up a game on&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Master Tad, did you ever see these men before?"</p>
+
+<p>They turned on the lad quickly. Neither man had previously
+observed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the train, as you mentioned just now."</p>
+
+<p>"And they were plotting my life?"</p>
+
+<p>"So it seemed to me, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you to say to that?" demanded Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"That the boy lies!"</p>
+
+<p>Tad's face flushed angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"That'll do," said Marquand, more quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you believe him&mdash;you do not believe me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe him. I know he has told me the truth. Now, it isn't
+necessary to explain to you. You deserve no explanation and
+you'll get none further than what you already have."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No 'buts' about it. I said I was done with you. Now, I want
+you to get out of my sight! You're a couple of rogues&mdash;so
+crooked that you can't walk straight."</p>
+
+<p>Bob Lasar's face had grown livid with rage. His anger was
+rapidly getting beyond all bounds. Tad observed it and saw the
+storm coming. It arrived a moment later when Lasar whipped out a
+revolver.</p>
+
+<p>Before Mr. Marquand could make a move to draw his own weapon
+Bob had aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger.</p>
+
+<p>Tad, instantly divining the purpose of the man when he saw his
+hand fly to the pistol holster under his coat, sprang
+forward.</p>
+
+<p>There was a deafening report. A bullet buried itself in the
+ceiling of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Tad had struck up the desperado's arm just in the nick of
+time, thus preventing a terrible crime. But the end was not yet.
+There were five more bullets in the cylinder of the weapon, as
+the lad knew full well.</p>
+
+<p>He grabbed Lasar's arm, hanging on desperately, at the same
+time trying to get a wrestling hold.</p>
+
+<p>The weapon went off again, this time sending a bullet into the
+floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out for the other fellow!" shouted Tad.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand already had done so. Comstock had just made an
+attempt to draw his own weapon when Marquand threw himself upon
+the man. The two went crashing to the floor, while Tad and Lasar
+were battling all over the room, the latter's weapon barking
+viciously every little while.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar was much more powerful than his slender antagonist, but
+Tad being very quick on his feet managed to keep out of the way
+of the revolver and at the same time to avoid being thrown.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, the boy gave the gun-hand of his opponent a quick
+twist.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar uttered a sharp exclamation of pain. The revolver
+clattered to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Quick as a flash, Tad threw a leg behind the knee of his
+antagonist, gave it a quick jerk, with the result that Lasar went
+to the floor with great violence.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, occupants of the hotel were running down the
+hall, while others were hammering at the door. Lasar had turned
+the key upon entering the room.</p>
+
+<p>Those within did not have time to listen to the demands of
+those in the hall, who were demanding admission.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand, as soon as he got his opponent down, quickly
+disarmed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up!" he commanded. "I don't want to kill you. I ought to
+do so, but I won't."</p>
+
+<p>He sprang from Comstock, and jerking Tad from Lasar, whom the
+lad was making heroic efforts to hold down, pulled the fallen
+rascal to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out, both of you!" he commanded, covering both his
+visitors with his weapon.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar, in struggling to his feet, reached for his
+revolver.</p>
+
+<p>"Drop it or I'll fill you full of lead!"</p>
+
+<p>At that instant, the door burst open and half a dozen men
+sprang into the room.</p>
+
+<p>Lasar, seeing that he was caught, leaped through the open
+window. He was followed closely by Comstock. He, too, made a
+clean leap, landing on the soft ground below.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the meaning of this shooting?" shouted the proprietor,
+his face flushed with anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Two men tried to murder me," replied Marquand coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks as though you were doing your share of it," snapped
+the proprietor, noting his guest's belligerent attitude and drawn
+weapon.</p>
+
+<p>Just then three shots in quick succession were fired from the
+outside. Two of the bullets narrowly missed some of the men, who
+had forced their way into the room.</p>
+
+<p>As the third shot was fired, Tad threw one hand to his head;
+then drew it away grinning.</p>
+
+<p>"Those rascals have evidently gotten a new supply of fire
+arms," he said.</p>
+
+<p>A bullet had gone through his hair and his scalp burned where
+the lead had brushed it.</p>
+
+<p>All of the newcomers drew their revolvers and sprang to the
+window.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't shoot!" cried the Pony Rider Boy; "You'll hit the wrong
+one. There are a hundred people down there."</p>
+
+<p>"He's right!" shouted Mr. Marquand, pushing his way between
+the men and the window, at the imminent risk of getting a bullet
+in his back from either Lasar or Comstock. "Let 'em go. They'll
+be running for home about this time. They are a couple of
+scoundrels, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"But the damage. Look at my fine room."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll pay for the damage, and I'll quit your hotel now. I've
+had enough of the place," retorted Mr. Marquand, pulling a roll
+of bills from his pocket. "How much is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How much is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess twenty-five would be about right. You
+see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Here's your twenty-five. Clear out!"</p>
+
+<p>With many apologies the proprietor, accompanied by the others,
+backed from the room.</p>
+
+<p>"We came pretty near having a fight, didn't we?" Marquand
+smiled, looking at Tad for the first time since the disturbance
+began.</p>
+
+<p>"Almost."</p>
+
+<p>"He would have got me if you hadn't knocked up his gun-hand.
+That's another one I owe you. Well, maybe we'll have a pay day
+soon."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better go back to camp with me, and bunk in with us
+to-night," suggested the lad, "We shall want to make an early
+start in the morning, anyway. I think it will be safer there,
+too. That pair won't dare come fooling around our camp, knowing
+they can't trifle with us," added the lad, with a note of pride
+in his tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do it. Not that I'm afraid of anything that walks on two
+legs, but the sooner we hitch up the better it'll be. Got room
+enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty. Where's your pony?"</p>
+
+<p>"Up near your camp. Come on."</p>
+
+<p>The man and the boy walked from the hotel, the former looking
+neither to the right nor to the left, Tad observing their
+surroundings half</p>
+
+<p>suspiciously. He was sure they had not yet heard the last of
+Bob Lasar and Joe Comstock. In this he was right.</p>
+
+<p>Marquand and the boy had gone no more than ten rods from the
+hotel, when the report of a revolver was heard, and a bullet
+fired from the corner of an adobe building passed within an inch
+of Mr. Marquand's head.</p>
+
+<p>With wonderful quickness the latter drew and sent three shots
+at the flash.</p>
+
+<p>Whether he had hit any thing or not he did not know.</p>
+
+<p>"Run! I don't want you to get hit," cried the boy's new
+friend, grasping Tad by the hand and starting off at a brisk
+pace.</p>
+
+<p>"Bullets don't scare me, so long as they don't hit me,"
+laughed young Butler.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIII</h3>
+
+<h4>MOONBEAM POINTS THE WAY</h4>
+
+<p>The moon will be here in a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"What was it the old Pueblo chief said, Mr. Marquand?"</p>
+
+<p>"'When the full of the moon has come and shoots its first
+arrow over the crests of the Guadalupes, it points the way to the
+treasure of my ancient people,'" quoted Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"I presume that would be taken to mean that, at a certain
+phase of the moon, one of its beams points to where the treasure
+is hidden," explained Professor Zepplin. "But what leads you to
+believe this is the Pueblo village of your particular chief's
+ancestors?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I don't see why it might not be any of the ruined adobe
+houses in this valley?" said Ned Rector.</p>
+
+<p>They had journeyed rapidly over mountain and plain to the
+valley of the Guadalupes, where Mr. Marquand had informed them
+that he expected to find the treasure. In the three days consumed
+on the journey, the travelers had seen nothing of either Lasar or
+Comstock. Evidently the pair had decided to leave the country
+while they still had the chance, fearing that perhaps Mr.
+Marquand might invoke the aid of the law to rid himself of them
+if they remained.</p>
+
+<p>The Pony Rider Boys and their outfit had arrived that
+afternoon, and during the remaining hours of daylight they had
+been excitedly exploring the ancient dwellings, most of which
+were in a dilapidated condition. There was one, however, two
+stories in height, that was in an excellent state of
+preservation. In fact it appeared as if it had only recently been
+vacated. After an examination of all the ruins Mr. Marquand had
+discovered what led him to believe that this was the structure
+which the old Pueblo chief referred to in his description of the
+resting place of the treasure. The chief had said he had never
+been near the spot. He was the only member of his tribe to whom
+the secret had been handed down, and he in turn had transmitted
+it to the white man who now stood within the shadow of the
+ancient dwelling place.</p>
+
+<p>"I have my reasons for believing this is the place," answered
+Mr. Marquand, in response to the Professor's question. "If I am
+wrong, we shall have to wait until the moon rises to-morrow
+night. Come inside now, and we will close the door."</p>
+
+<p>All hands crowded into the cool chamber, closing the heavy
+wooden door that barred the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't see how moonlight can get through solid walls,"
+muttered Stacy. "Ought to leave the door open."</p>
+
+<p>No one answered him. In the darkened chamber, with its
+peculiar, musty odors, the boys did not feel in the mood for
+hilarity or even for speech. There was something about their
+situation that seemed to impress them profoundly.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand over against the wall on the side, so as not to
+obstruct any light that might possibly get in here," directed Mr.
+Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>The others moved silently to the side of the room indicated by
+him. They had stood thus for fully five minutes when an
+exclamation from Stacy broke the stillness harshly.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look!" cried the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>A slender shaft of light had suddenly pierced the blackness,
+coming they knew not whence. It was there.</p>
+
+<p>"Must be a pin hole through the wall up near the ceiling,"
+suggested Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>The silver thread shot across the chamber, ending abruptly on
+the adobe floor some three feet from the back wall.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the spot!" shouted Mr. Marquand triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>He threw himself on the floor, and with his knife scratched a
+cross on the spot where the moonbeam rested. Scarcely had he done
+so when the delicate shaft of light disappeared as suddenly as it
+had come.</p>
+
+<p>"It's gone," breathed the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"But it has pointed the way."</p>
+
+<p>"And we have followed the silver trail to its end," added Ned
+Rector poetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring the tools!" cried Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>While they were doing so, he struck a match and lighted the
+lantern that they had brought with them from their camp in the
+foothills. His first care was to bar the door with the heavy
+wooden timber that he had cut and which he now slipped into its
+fastenings.</p>
+
+<p>A close examination of the floor revealed no marks save those
+put there by the treasure-hunter's knife.</p>
+
+<p>"This house seems to be built on the solid ground. I do not
+think you will find anything under it," protested the
+Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"There are houses under every one of these buildings,"
+answered Mr. Marquand. He held a short, keen edged bar in place,
+while Kris Kringle swung the maul. Gradually they cut a ring
+about two feet in diameter about the cross. The material of which
+the floor had been made had been tempered with the years and was
+almost as hard as flint.</p>
+
+<p>The steady thud of the heavy maul, accompanied by the click,
+click of the cutting bar, the dim light, the silent, expectant
+faces, formed a weird picture in this silent desert place.</p>
+
+<p>After a full half hour of this the two men paused, and stood
+back, drawing sleeves across their foreheads to wipe away the
+perspiration.</p>
+
+<p>Stacy Brown walked pompously over to the circle.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe I can fall through it. If I can't, nobody can," he
+said, jumping up and down on the spot where they had been
+cutting.</p>
+
+<p>There followed a rambling sound, and with a yell, Stacy Brown
+suddenly disappeared from sight. In place of the circle in which
+he had been standing was a black, ragged hole, from which
+particles of the mortar were still crumbling and rattling to the
+bottom of the pit.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you there?" cried Kris Kringle, leaping to the spot,
+thrusting the lantern down through the opening. "Master
+Stacy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" responded the boy from the depths.</p>
+
+<p>"Did it hurt you?"</p>
+
+<p>"How far did you fall?"</p>
+
+<p>This and other questions were hurled at the fat boy, as his
+companions crowded about the opening.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm killed. That'll answer all your questions," replied
+Stacy. "Hurry up! Get my remains out of this place."</p>
+
+<p>The rays of the lantern disclosed a short stairway, built of
+the same material of which the house itself had been
+constructed.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand forced himself past the guide and was down the
+steps in a twinkling. He was followed by the wondering Pony Rider
+Boys, Professor Zepplin and Kris Kringle in short order, for all
+crowded down through the narrow opening.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky had hit the top step and rolled all the way down. He
+had scrambled to his feet and was rubbing his shins by the time
+his friends reached him. His clothes were torn and he was covered
+with dust.</p>
+
+<p>"Fell down the cellar, didn't I?" he grinned.</p>
+
+<p>But no one gave any heed to him now. Mr. Marquand had snatched
+at the lantern and was running from point to point of the chamber
+in which they found themselves. He was laboring under great
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's another opening," he shouted. "We haven't got to the
+bottom yet."</p>
+
+<p>Another flight of stairs led to still another and smaller
+chamber below. Mr. Marquand let out a yell the moment he reached
+the bottom. The others rushed pell-mell after him.</p>
+
+<p>There, with it's top just showing above the dirt was a long
+iron chest.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me the maul!" shouted the excited treasure seeker.</p>
+
+<p>He attacked the rusty iron fastenings; at last the cover
+yielded to his thunderous blows and falling on its edge, toppled
+over to the floor with a crash.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody's old clothes," chuckled Stacy, peering into the
+open chest.</p>
+
+<p>The garments, priestly robes that lay at the top, fell to
+pieces the instant Mr. Marquand laid violent hands on them.</p>
+
+<p>"Look! Look! Was I right or was I wrong?" he cried, beside
+himself with joy.</p>
+
+<p>There, before their astonished eyes, lay a chest of gold&mdash;
+coins dulled by age, small nuggets and chunks of silver, all
+heaped indiscriminately in the treasure chest.</p>
+
+<p>"I did it!" shouted Chunky. "I did it with my little feet! I
+fell in and discovered the treasure!"</p>
+
+<p>The tongues of the Pony Rider Boys were suddenly loosened.
+Such a shout as they set up probably never had been heard before
+in the ancient adobe mansion of the Pueblos. Cheer after cheer
+echoed through the chambers and reached the ears of a dozen
+desperadoes who were skulking amid the sage brush without.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin scooped up a handful of the coins and
+examined them under the lantern.</p>
+
+<p>"Old Spanish coins," he informed them. "Pure gold. And look at
+these nuggets! Where do you suppose the Indians found them?"</p>
+
+<p>"There are hidden mines in the State," informed Mr. Marquand.
+"Some of these days they will be discovered. I have been hunting
+for them myself, but without success. Boys, what do you think of
+it now? If it had not been for you I might never have seen this
+sight."</p>
+
+<p>Their eyes were fairly bulging as they gazed at the heap of
+gold. Chunky squatted down scooping up a double handful and
+letting the coins run through his fingers. Then the other boys
+dipped in, laughing for pure joy, more because their adventure
+had borne fruit than for the love of the gold itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Must be more'n a bushel of it," announced Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"Those old Franciscans must have been saving up for a rainy
+day. And it never rained here at all," suggested Ned
+humorously.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we count it?" asked Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"Just as you wish," replied the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Were I in your place, Mr. Marquand, I should get the stuff
+out of here as soon as possible. You can't tell what may happen.
+I would suggest that we secure the treasure and be on our way at
+once. You will want to get it to a bank as quickly as possible.
+This is one of the things that cannot be kept quiet."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right. Will somebody go over to the camp and get
+those gunny sacks of mine? I don't want to lose sight of my find
+for a minute. You know how I feel about it&mdash;not that I do
+not trust you. You know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely we understand," smiled Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"And you all have an interest in it&mdash;you shall share the
+treasure with me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we don't," shouted the boys. "We've had more than a
+million dollars worth of fun out of it already."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," added the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll discuss that later," said Mr. Marquand firmly. "Just
+now we must take care of what we have found. Who will get the
+bags?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will," answered the boys promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"No; you stay here. I'll get them," answered Kris Kringle.
+"Light me up the stairs so I don't break my neck in this old
+rookery.</p>
+
+<p>One of the boys lighted the way to the next floor, then
+stepped back into the cellar, where Mr. Marquand was turning over
+the treasure in an effort to find out if the pile extended all
+the way to the bottom of the chest.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Kris Kringle unbarred the door and threw it
+part way open. He did it cautiously, as if half expecting
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>He threw the door to with a bang, springing to one side, and
+dropping the bar back into place.</p>
+
+<p>The reason for his sudden change of plans was that no sooner
+had the door opened than several thirty-eight calibre bullets
+were fired from the sage brush outside.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle waited to learn whether those in the cellar had
+heard the shots. But they had not. They were some distance below
+ground, and their minds were wholly taken up with the great
+treasure before them.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments the guide once more removed the bar, first
+having drawn his revolver in case of sudden surprise. Then he
+cautiously opened the door an inch or so.</p>
+
+<p>At first nothing happened. The moonlit landscape lay as silent
+and peaceful as if there were not a human being on the
+desert.</p>
+
+<p>There were six distinct flashes all at once and a rain of lead
+showered into the door.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle took a pot shot at one of the flashes, then
+slammed the door shut and barred it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well; I hope that would get you," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>Hastily retracing his steps he called the party up to the
+second cellar.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you fetch the sacks?" called Mr. Marquand.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I've fetched trouble. It's coming in sackfuls."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"We're besieged."</p>
+
+<p>"Besieged?" wondered the Professor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; there's a crowd outside, and they've been trying to
+shoot me up. Must be some of your friends, Mr. Marquand."</p>
+
+<p>"Lasar and Comstock? The scoundrels!" growled Mr. Marquand.
+"But we'll make short work of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so easy as you think There are more than two out
+there&mdash;there's a crowd and they've got rifles. Our rifles
+are over in the camp. I've got a six-shooter and so have you, but
+what do they amount to against half a dozen rifles?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll talk to them, if I can get any place to make them hear,"
+announced Mr. Marquand, starting up the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon there's a window on the second floor, but you'd
+better be careful that you don't get winged," warned the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand went right on, and the others followed. As the
+guide had said there was a small window on the floor above the
+ground, apparently the only one in the house.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand hailed the besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you and what do you mean by shooting us up in this
+fashion?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to know who we are, Jim Marquand, and you know what
+we want!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know you all right, Lasar, and I'll make you smart for
+this."</p>
+
+<p>"The place is as much mine as it is yours," answered Lasar.
+"And I propose to take it! If you'll make an even divvy of what
+you have found, or expect to find, we'll go away and let you
+alone. If you don't we'll take the whole outfit."</p>
+
+<p>"Take it, take it!" jeered Marquand. "You couldn't take it in
+a hundred years&mdash;not unless you used artillery."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we'll starve you out," replied the man in the sage
+brush.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out!" warned the guide.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand sprang to one side just as a volley crashed
+through the opening, the bullets rattling to the floor after
+bounding back from the flint-like walls.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they've got you, Mr. Marquand. We can't hold out
+forever. If we had rifles we could pick them off by daylight. But
+when morning comes they'll draw back out of revolver range and
+plunk the first man who shows himself outside. Have you any title
+to this property?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I have bought up a hundred acres about here. The deeds
+are in my pocket. I guess nobody has a better title.".</p>
+
+<p>"His title is all right," spoke up Professor Zepplin. "I made
+sure of that before I decided to come with Mr. Marquand."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there's only one thing to be done."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Get a sheriff's posse and bag the whole bunch."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand laughed harshly.</p>
+
+<p>"If we were in a position to get a posse we should be able to
+get away without one. I think we had better go below. This is not
+a very safe place with this open window."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll remain here."</p>
+
+<p>"What for, Kringle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody's got to watch the front door to see that they don't
+play any tricks on us. It's clouding up, and if the night gets
+dark they'll try to get in."</p>
+
+<p>"How far is it to a place where we could get a sheriff?" asked
+Tad, who had been thinking deeply.</p>
+
+<p>"Hondo. Fifteen miles due east of here as the moon rises.
+Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I were sure I could find my way, I think I might get some
+help," answered the lad quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"You!" snapped Mr. Marquand, turning on him.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had a rope. Perhaps I can do it without one."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to know how?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marquand was inclined to treat the proposition lightly,
+believing that such a move as proposed by Tad Butler was an
+impossibility. Kris Kringle, however, was regarding the boy
+inquiringly. He knew that Tad had some plan in mind and that it
+was likely to be a good one.</p>
+
+<p>"The rascals are all out in front of the house, aren't
+they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Master Tad. There's no reason why they should be behind
+the house. They know we can't get out that way; because there is
+no opening on that side."</p>
+
+<p>Tad nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I can do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Tad, what foolish idea have you in mind now? I cannot consent
+to your taking any more chances</p>
+
+<p>"Professor, we are taking long enough chances as it is. Unless
+we are relieved soon, we shall be starved out and perhaps
+worse."</p>
+
+<p>"What's your plan?" interrupted Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"See that hole in the roof up there?" Tad pointed.</p>
+
+<p>They had not seen it before, but they did now. A light
+suddenly dawned upon Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Boy, you are the only level-headed one in the outfit. You
+would have made a corking Indian fighter."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm the Indian fighter," chimed in Stacy.</p>
+
+<p>"You can boost me up to the hole and I'll go over the rear of
+the house, get to the camp and from there ride to Hondo."</p>
+
+<p>Tad's three companions started a cheer, which the guide
+sternly put down.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't consent to any such plan," decided the Professor
+sternly.</p>
+
+<p>The rest reasoned with him until, finally, he did consent,
+though he knew the lad would be taking desperate chances. Tad
+understood that as well as the rest of them, but he was burning
+to be off.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle gave him careful directions as to how to get to
+the place.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your rifle with you, if you can get it. After you get
+half a mile or a mile away shoot once. That will tell us you are
+all right."</p>
+
+<p>"You can help me in getting away from here, if you will do
+some shooting to cover my escape," suggested Tad.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good idea," agreed the guide. "You wait on the roof
+until we begin to rake the sage with our revolvers. Then drop.
+Take a wide circuit, so that you won't stumble over the
+enemy."</p>
+
+<p>Tad gave his belt a hitch, stuffed his sombrero under it and
+announced himself as ready.</p>
+
+<p>The guide stepped under the hole. Tad quickly climbed to his
+shoulder and stood up like a circus performer. He could easily
+reach the roof with his hands. A second more and his feet were
+lifted from the shoulders of the guide. They saw the figure in
+the opening; then it disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>A slight scraping noise was the only sound they heard.</p>
+
+<p>Tad flattened himself out and wriggled along toward the rear
+of the roof. Peering over the edge he made sure that there was no
+one about. He then lay quietly waiting for the shooting to
+begin.</p>
+
+<p>"Let 'em have it," directed Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>A sudden fusillade was emptied into the sage brush.</p>
+
+<p>Tad swung himself over the edge of the roof, hung on for a few
+seconds, then dropped lightly to the ground.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXlV</h3>
+
+<h4>CONCLUSION</h4>
+
+<p>The enemy answered the shots with a volley, and for a few
+moments a lot of ammunition was wasted while the odor of
+gunpowder assailed nostrils on both sides.</p>
+
+<p>After that, the shooting died away. As the minutes lengthened
+into an hour, and no word of Tad's mission had been received, the
+defenders began to grow restless. They were under a double
+tension now. Mr. Marquand was pacing up and down the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, forgetful of the danger that lurked out there, he
+poked his head out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>A sharp <i>pat</i> on the stone window frame beside him, after
+the bullet had snipped off the tip of his left ear, caused Mr.
+Marquand to draw back suddenly. He stalked about the floor,
+holding a handkerchief to the wounded ear, "talking in dashes and
+asterisks," as Chunky put it.</p>
+
+<p>Kris Kringle's face wore a grim smile. He was taking chances
+of being shot, every second now, but he insisted in holding his
+place at the side of the window so he could listen and watch.</p>
+
+<p>A thin, fleecy veil covered the moon, but it was not dense
+enough to fully hide objects on the landscape.</p>
+
+<p>"All keep quiet, now," warned Kris Kringle. "We should get a
+signal pretty soon."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid something has happened to the boy," muttered the
+Professor. Then all fell silent.</p>
+
+<p>"There it goes!" exclaimed the guide in a tone of great
+relief.</p>
+
+<p>The crack of a rifle afar off sounded clear and distinct.</p>
+
+<p>"He's made it. Thank heaven!" breathed Mr. Marquand
+fervently.</p>
+
+<p>Chunky leaped to the opening, swung his sombrero as he leaned
+out, and uttered a long, shrill "y-e-o-w!"</p>
+
+<p>A bullet chipped the adobe at his side. Stacy ducked, throwing
+himself on the floor, sucking a thumb energetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Wing you?" inquired Kris Kringle.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody burned my thumb," wailed the fat boy.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bullet that burned you. Served you right too.
+Somebody tie that boy up or he'll be killed," counseled the
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>The besiegers could not have failed to hear the shot from
+Tad's rifle, but it did not seem to disturb them. They evidently
+did not even dream that one of the party had escaped their
+vigilance and that he was well on his way for assistance.</p>
+
+<p>The wait from that time on was a tedious and trying one,
+though each felt a certain sense of elation that Tad Butler had
+succeeded in outwitting the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>It was shortly after two o'clock in the morning when Kris
+Kringle espied a party of horsemen slowly encircling the adobe
+house. The riders were strung out far off on the plain. Those
+hiding in the sage in front of the house could not see the
+approaching horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>"There they come," whispered Kris Kringle. "Begin
+shooting!"</p>
+
+<p>The two men started firing, while the besiegers poured volley
+after volley through the window.</p>
+
+<p>The posse at this, closed in at a gallop. Their rifles now
+began to crash.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes it was all over. The sheriff's men surrounded
+the besiegers, placing every man of them under arrest. After this
+the officers quickly liberated the Pony Rider Boys. Three of the
+besiegers had been wounded. Among them, was the Mexican whom Tad
+had defeated in the tilting game a few days before.</p>
+
+<p>When all was over, the boys hoisted Tad Butler on their
+shoulders and marched around the adobe house shouting and
+singing. Mr. Marquand decided to go back with the posse, using
+these men as a guard for his treasure. It was understood that the
+Pony Rider Boys were to follow the next morning. Before leaving,
+Mr. Marquand called the Professor aside.</p>
+
+<p>"There is, on a rough estimate, all of sixty thousand dollars
+in the treasure chest. Had it not been for you and your brave
+boys I should have lost it. So, when you reach Hondo to-morrow, I
+shall take great pleasure in presenting to each of you a draft
+for two thousand dollars."</p>
+
+<p>Professor Zepplin protested, but Mr. Marquand insisted, and he
+kept his word. After the posse, with their prisoners and the
+treasure, had started, the Pony Rider Boys, arm in arm, started
+off across the moonlit meadows toward their camp. It was their
+last night in camp. Their summer's journeyings had come to an
+end&mdash;a fitting close to their adventurous travels. Not a
+word did they speak until they reached the camp. There, they
+turned and gazed off over the plain which was all silvered under
+the now clear light of the moon.</p>
+
+<p>"It has been a silver trail," mused Tad Butler.</p>
+
+<p>"It has indeed," breathed his companions</p>
+
+<p>"And we've reached the end of The Silver Trail," added the
+Professor, coming up at that moment. "To-morrow I'll breathe the
+first free breath that I've drawn in three months."</p>
+
+<p>The boys circled slowly around him and joined hands. Then
+their voices rose on the mellow desert air to the tune of</p>
+
+<p align="Center" class="center">"Home, Sweet Home."</p>
+
+<p>A week later saw the wanderers back in Chillicothe. Their
+welcome was a warm one. Banker Perkins found his once ailing son
+now transformed into a sturdy young giant.</p>
+
+<p>We shall meet them again in the next volume of this
+series&mdash;in a tale of surpassing wonders&mdash;published
+under the title: "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or,
+the Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch." It will be found to be by far
+the most interesting volume so far published about the splendid
+Pony Rider Boys.</p>
+
+<h4>The End.</h4>
+
+<pre>
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