a drug store fer a porious plaster fer them ribs o'
hisn."

Ted had picked himself up and was rubbing his arm, which had been
strained by his falling on it.

"What's this yere all erbout?" asked Bud. "I'm comin' up ter call on yer
when I hears yer blat, an' I come runnin', an' what do I see? A large,
pale stranger erbout ter explore yer system with er bowie. Yer mixin' in
sassiety quicker'n usual, seems ter me."

Ted had picked up the knife, which had fallen beneath the bed, and was
looking at it.

"I wonder where this came from," he said, turning it over in his hand.

"Wherever it came from, it's a wicked-lookin' cuss," said Bud. "But what
wuz ther feller goin' ter explore yer with it fer?"

"This letter," said Ted, taking the crumpled paper from his pocket and
handing it to Bud.

"Jumpin' sand hills, ther plot thickens," said Bud, when he had finished
reading it. "I don't seem ter be in it at all. What's it all erbout?
Ye've got my coco whirlin' shore."

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ABANDONED MOTOR CAR.

"I'll tell you," said Ted, "if you'll take a seat and keep quiet until I
get the thing straightened out in my own mind, for the incidents of the
past hour certainly have got me going."

Bud sat down and waited patiently for Ted, who was thinking deeply.

"I didn't tell you the precise object of our visit to St. Louis," began
Ted, "not because I didn't trust your ability to keep a secret, but in
order to keep every one else in the dark."

"D'yer mean ter say that ye hev stalled me along ter this town ter give
me a leetle airin', an' not ter sell hosses?" asked Bud indignantly.

"Not exactly. I want to sell the horses for the top price, but there was
something else behind it."

"A large man astraddle o' ye with a keen an' bitin' bowie at yer throat.
Yer must be hard up fer amoosement."

"Not that, either," said Ted, laughing. "I manage to get all the
amusement that's coming to me."

"I'm still gropin' fer enlightenment."

"Here goes, then. For a couple of months the trains on the Union
Pacific, in Nebraska and Wyoming, have been running the gantlet between
bands of train robbers. If a train missed being robbed at one place, it
was almost sure to get it at another, especially if it carried wealth of
any description."

"But ther railroads is erbout ther biggest chumps ter stand fer all this
monkeydoodle business o' train robbin' ez long ez they hev. Why don't
they get inter ther exterminatin' busine