"The cheek of him!" put in Fred, who was also bitten. "We ought to
drive him back into the hole."

"Not on mine life!" said Hans. "I vos so stung now I can't see mine
eyes out of, ain't it!"

All lost no time in getting away from the vicinity of the hornets'
nest, and presently the pests left them and went back to the hole,
to see what damage had been done.

"This is an experience I didn't bargain for," said Songbird, who had
been stung in the cheek.

"Maybe you'd like to make up some poetry about it," grumbled Tom.
"Oh, how my chin hurts!"

"And my ear!"

"And my nose!"

"Humph! Look at my eye!"

So the talk ran on, and the crowd looked at each other in their
misery. But the sights were too comical and, despite the pain, each
had to laugh at the others.

"Didn't know you had so much cheek, Songbird."

"My, what an awful smeller Fred's got!"

"Dick's left hand is a regular boxing glove."

"I'm going to put some soft mud on the hand," returned Dick. "There
is nothing better to draw out the pain of a hornet's sting."

"Den gif me some of dot mut, too," said Hans. "I ton't vos care how
he looks, so long as it makes me feel easier."

Mud was easy to procure, and all used it liberally, and before long
the pain and swelling began to go down. But their sufferings did not
cease entirely until many hours afterwards, while poor Hans could
not use one eye for two days.

"After this, we had better keep our eyes open for hornets' nests,"
observed Dick.

"I certainly don't want to be stung again," said Sam.

"I believe a fellow could be stung to death by such pests," ventured
Fred.

"Yes, and a horrible death it would be," answered Dick.

The encounter with the hornets had delayed them greatly, and it was
getting toward nightfall before they went on their way again.

"We may as well take our time," said Tom. "We can't reach Red Rock
ranch until to-morrow."

After crossing a level stretch of prairie, they came to the edge of
a woods. Not far off was a shack similar to those to be seen all over
this section of our country.

"Hullo, here is a house," cried Dick. "I wonder if anybody lives here?"

He dismounted and, walking forward, looked into the shack. On a bed
of boughs a heavy-set man was sleeping.

"Hullo, there!" called out the eldest of the Rovers.

The man sat up in alarm and made a movement as if to draw a pistol.

"What do you want of me?" he asked roughly.

CHAPTER XVI

A SCENE FR