old plainsman saw any indications that they were hotter
on the trail of those they sought.

"Nope!" answered Old Billee. "But we're going to camp and make coffee
and frizzle a bit of bacon. No use keepin' on any longer. We can't do
anything more till mornin'."

"Camp it is!" exclaimed Bud, "and I'm not sorry, either."

Shortly a fire was going, made from twigs and branches picked up under
a few trees near where the party had stopped, and soon the appetizing
aroma of coffee and bacon spread through the night air.

"Um! But this is jolly!" cried Nort.

The horses were picketed out and after the midnight supper the
wayfarers rolled themselves in their blankets and prepared to pass what
remained of the night in the glow of the campfire, and beneath the
fitful light of the cloud-obscured moon.

CHAPTER V

AT SPUR CREEK

Dick was dreaming that he was at a football game, and that his brother
Nort had hold of him and was trying to pull him through the line of
opposing players to make a touchdown. Then the dream seemed to become
confused with reality, and Dick felt some one tugging at the blanket in
which he had rolled himself so snugly.

Half awake and half asleep Dick's brain struggled to clear itself and
get the right impression of what really was going on. Then he became
aware that his blanket was actually being pulled--this was no dream.

"Here! Who's that? What you doing?" he cried, and instinctively he
began groping for his gun, which was in its holster in the belt he had
taken off for the night.

Something cold and clammy touched Dick on the cheek, causing a shudder
to run through him.

"Snakes!" he yelled. "Rattlers! Look out!"

His frantic cries roused the others, and Nort and Bud struggled to free
themselves of their enveloping blankets as they sat up near the
smouldering blaze of the camp fire.

"What is it?" cried Bud, who had only half heard what his cousin
shouted.

"Snakes!" again yelled Dick.

"Snakes nothing!" disgustedly grumbled Billee Dobb, who did not relish
having his slumbers broken. "It's too cold for snakes to be out
to-night." Then the plainsman tossed on the fire a bit of wood which,
when it blazed up, revealed the cause of the disturbance.

"It's your horse!" cried Nort with a laugh. And it was Dick's faithful
pony who, having slipped his tether, had wandered over near human
companionship, and had been pulling at Dick's blanket with his teeth.
Then the animal