!" roared Big Gabe, becoming somewhat excited. "Burn
him and double burn him! I tell yer them youngsters is my friends, an'
I'm standin' by 'em! You an' I don't want any trouble, Jack."

"No, we don't want any trouble; but, at the same time, I'll have to do
my duty," came firmly from the lips of the sheriff.

"By thet yer mean yer'll hev ter arrest Frank Merriwell?"

"Exactly."

"Stiddy, Jack! Don't be too quick ter lay yer paws on ther boys. You
know me."

"I do, and I do not fancy having trouble with you. At the same time I
must do my duty."

"Wa-al, hold hard a bit. Don't be in a hurry about nabbin' them. I'll
give yer my pledge as how yer kin hev 'em any time. Does thet go?"

The sheriff hesitated a bit, and then said:

"It goes, if you are responsible for 'em, Gabe."

"All right. Boys, this yar is Jack Long, sheriff from Carson, a white
man clean through. He'll guv yer a squar' deal."

The boys shook hands with the officer, after which the latter said:

"This man with me is Silas Jones, of Michigan, relation to my wife,
somehow or other. He is thinking of locating out this way."

Jones grinned all over his bearded face, shook hands in a strong,
blundering fashion, and said:

"I swan if this ain't a great country, out here! Beats all natur! But I
don't feel to hum, fer I was raised right in ther middle of the woods,
an' there's too much open land out this way. I don't mean right round
here, you understand; but I've seen more'n forty thousan' miles of
prairie sence comin' out this way, an' it makes me lonesome."

Having expressed himself thus, he sat down on a box and relapsed into
silence, listening to the others and grinning now and then, but seldom
speaking unless addressed.

Big Gabe urged them all to sit down, and they did so. He then directed
Frank Merriwell to relate to the sheriff the story of his adventures
since meeting Isa Isban on the train, and the boy was obliged to go
over the ground once more.

Bart was impatient, thinking how much time was being wasted; but he held
himself in check as far as possible.

The dark-eyed boy noticed that Silas Jones listened to Frank's story
with great attentiveness, apparently greatly interested in the
narrative.

When the boy had finished, Blake explained how his sailboat had been
engaged by a pleasure party of four persons, two men, a woman and a
girl, and how they had failed to return with it, making it impossible
for him to pursue the man and t