ground, and while two of
them smoked their pipes the third indulged in a nap.

Not a great distance off was a spring of pure cold water, and presently
one of the men got up and walked over to this to get a drink.

"My chance for number one!" muttered old Benson, and crawled after the
desperado. As the man turned the corner of a number of rocks, he came up
behind, clapped his hands over the fellow's mouth, and bore him to the
earth.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BENSON PUTS SOME MEN IN A HOLE.

The man whom old Benson had attacked was taken completely by surprise,
and he went to the ground easily. But, once down, he struggled fiercely
to release himself, and at the same time did his best to cry out for
assistance.

"Silence!" commanded the scout in a whisper. "If you yell, it will go
hard with you."

The desperado now saw who had attacked him, and his face changed color.
But he continued to struggle, and was on the point of breaking away when
the old scout hit him a heavy blow on the ear, which bowled him over and
rendered him partly unconscious.

"Hi! did you call?" came from the other man who had been smoking.

Old Benson looked at the man before him, and saw that the fellow would
be unable to do anything for several minutes to come.

"Yes," he answered, in a rough voice. "Here's something funny to look
at. Come quick."

At once the second man leaped up, and without stopping to pick up his
rifle came to the spring. Old Benson quickly stepped behind a bush, out
of sight.

"Hullo, Riley, what's the trouble?" cried the second man when he beheld
his prostrate companion.

He bent over Riley, and while he was making an examination old Benson
came behind him and threw him as he had thrown the first desperado.

But the second man was "game," and the struggle lasted for several
minutes. At one time it looked as if the old scout would get the worst
of the encounter, but in the end he triumphed and the rascal was
disarmed.

All the time the struggle was going on Benson had been afraid the third
man would rouse up, especially as the second called several times for
help. But the rascal had now fallen into a heavy sleep, and heard
nothing.

What to do with the two desperadoes before him the old scout did not
know, until he suddenly thought of a big cave-like hole he had
discovered that very morning, while hunting for buffalo tracks. The hole
was fifteen to twenty feet in diameter and twice as deep, and once at
the