dark."

"Ever get held up?" questioned Fred curiously.

"Nary a hold-up, lad," answered the foreman, with a grin. "We leave all
that to the movie men."

"Did you ever have a moving picture company out here?" asked Gif.

"Yes, we had one crowd out here last year. They stayed around about six
weeks taking some sort of a drama, as they called it. It was funny,"
added the foreman, with a chuckle. "The leading lady was scared to death
of horses, and yet she had to do a little riding. The man who was having
the pictures taken wanted her to smile while she was cantering along. But
that smile, believe me, wasn't anything to brag about. They ought to have
brought along some leading lady who liked horses and knew all about
'em."

"Did they use any of your outfit?"

"Oh, they used a few of our cowboys in a round-up. They wanted me to go
into some of the pictures, but I told 'em there was nothing doing--that I
was here to manage the ranch and not make moving pictures."

"How many men on the place?" asked Randy.

"We have six at present. But the boss is thinking of getting some more
and increasing the herd."

"Did dad get his Chinese cook?" questioned Spouter.

"Yes. He's got a Chink named Hop Lung; a pretty good sort of a chap,
too."

They crossed two more hills and then passed through a patch of tall
timber. Here there was a rough wagon road, and the foreman explained that
it was used for hauling firewood to the ranch house and the bunkhouse.

It was growing dark when the party on horseback approached the ranch.
Already lights were streaming from the windows and the automobile stood
in front of the wide veranda which ran around two sides of the building.

"They got here ahead of us," announced Jack.

"I thought they would," answered the foreman. "The river road is in
pretty good shape just now, so I suppose the boss made fast time in
driving over."

"The trail to the ranch was rougher than I expected," put in Andy. "If
you tried to run a horse over it he would most likely break a leg and
maybe you would break your neck."

"I've known one of our boys to go over to the station inside of twenty
minutes," returned the foreman. "But he only did it to catch a train and
on a bet. I'd rather take my time and save my horseflesh."

When they reached the ranch Mrs. Powell came out on the veranda to greet
her son and his chums. She was a round-faced, motherly woman, and she
immediately did all she could to make the young