ppear with about ten men," sighed Tom.
"Couldn't we make it warm for those chaps!"

"He won't be coming back for a long time," said Songbird. "He is no
wizard, even if he is a detective. It is only in the sensational,
five-cent libraries that the noble detective turns up every time he
is needed."

"Yes, and kills about ten men hand-running," added Tom with a laugh.

At the end of an hour's ride through the forest, all of the boys were
so fagged out they could scarcely keep on horseback. It must be
remembered that they had to take turns at riding, there not being
enough steeds to go around.

"I wish they'd come to a stop," muttered Songbird. "I declare, if I
ever get the chance, I'm going to rest for a week!"

"Ton't say a vord," groaned Hans. "I vos so lame I can't most sit up
alretty!"

"Let us be thankful if they don't discover that we are following
them," said Dick. "If they did find it out, they would certainly make
it warm for us."

A little while later the forest was left behind, and the party ahead
and that in the rear came out on the broad and rolling prairies. It
was growing cloudy, so that the boys kept their enemies in sight with
difficulty, not daring to draw too close.

Far away, they could see the lights of a town gleaming, but these
were soon lost to view around a bit of rising ground. Then they forded
a small stream and began to climb the slope of a small hill, at the
top of which were a series of rocks. Here they fancied the counterfeiters
might halt, but they were disappointed. The crowd ahead toiled over
the hill and then struck off across an-other section of the rolling
plains.

"I can't ride much further," said Tom at last. "I am so tired I am
ready to drop."

"Ditto here," came from Songbird.

Nevertheless, they kept on, and thus was the shadowing continued
until four o'clock in the morning, when the party ahead came to a
patch of timber on the side of a steep hill. Here, among the trees
and rocks, they went into a temporary camp.

The boys had come as close as they dared, and reaching a convenient
hillock with a clump of bushes, dismounted and threw themselves on
the ground.

"They are going into camp, sure enough," announced Dick after a
careful inspection. "Now, the question arises: what is best to do next?"

"I know what ought to be done," answered his brother, "but I am too
tired to do it."

"Go for help?" asked Songbird.

"Exactly. But I could no more ride back to town