d about paying for tuition at Colby Hall? Brassy's folks may be
quite poor, and they may be depending on this uncle for financial aid."

CHAPTER XXIV

A NEW ARRIVAL

After the disappearance of Jarley Bangs the Rover boys and their chums
continued their trip on horseback.

"Let's move over the hill in the direction of the Bimbel ranch,"
suggested Spouter. "I'd like to get a bird's-eye view of that outfit."

"Perhaps we had better not go too close," advised Fred. "Bimbel may be
getting out a shotgun for us."

"I guess it isn't as bad as all that, Fred. Those things might have
happened years ago when the country was more sparsely settled and when
there were more bad men around. I don't take much stock in what Bangs
said. Probably he and Bimbel have quarreled. He struck me as being a man
who could get into a dispute very easily."

"Oh, I was only fooling," answered Fred. "I wouldn't be afraid to ride
right up to his door. That is, in the daytime. Of course, if we did it at
night he might become suspicious."

"Say, do you fellows know that it's five minutes to twelve?" questioned
Andy, after consulting his watch. "I move that we keep our eyes open for
some place where we can take it easy and have lunch."

"And I second the commotion," returned his brother, joking in a way their
father had made familiar to them.

The boys rode on for half an hour longer, and then reached the top of the
hill they were ascending. Here they could look a long distance in all
directions.

"Some view, I'll say," declared Jack, as he surveyed the panorama. "What
a picture for an artist to paint!" and he pointed to the majestic
mountains to the westward.

"Just look at the river--how it glistens and sparkles in the sunshine,"
burst out Spouter. "See how it winds in and out like a silvery ribbon
among the hills and brushwood and then comes out to cut the broad and
fertile prairie in the far distance."

"Spouter, you'll have to write an essay about this when you get back to
the Hall," said Fred, with a grin.

"Gee, don't mention school at a time like this!" burst out Andy. "I want
to forget all about studying until it's absolutely necessary to go back
to it. And don't forget it's high time to eat," he added.

They moved along slowly and presently selected a spot for their temporary
camp. This was a short distance from the trail they had been following.
It was at the edge of a patch of timber where they were sheltered from
the