top irons, I guess. A little water will fetch him around. My! But
that was a close shave!"

He staggered out on the broken bridge. His legs were unsteady,
through weakness and fear, but not from any injury.

"How did it happen?" asked Joe.

"Horse got scared at something--I don't know what--and bolted. I
didn't want to take him out--he's an old spitfire anyhow, and
hasn't been driven in a week. But this feller was in a hurry," and
he nodded toward the unconscious man, "and I had to bring him out
with Rex--the only horse in the stable just then.

"I said I was afraid we'd have a smash-up, and we did. The line
busted near Baker's place, and--well, here we are."

"Better here than--down there," observed Joe in a low voice.

"That's right," agreed Hank. "Now let's see what we can do for
him. Hope he isn't much hurt, though I don't see how he could be."

"Who is he?" asked Blake, but the livery stable driver did not
answer. He was bending back the bent frame of the dashboard to
more easily get out the swarthy man. Joe and Blake, seeing what
he was trying to do, helped him.

Soon they were able to lift out the stranger, but there was no
need of carrying him, for he suddenly opened his eyes, straightened
up and stood on his feet, retaining a supporting hand on Hank's
shoulder.

"Where--where are we?" he asked, in a dazed way. "Did we fall?"

He spoke with an accent that at once told Blake and Joe his
nationality--Spanish, either from Mexico or South America.

"We're all right," put in Hank. "These young fellows saved us from
going over into the gulch. It was a narrow squeak, though."

"Ah!" The man uttered the exclamation, with a long sigh of
satisfaction and relief. Then he put his hand to his forehead, and
brought it away with a little blood on it.

"It is nothing. It is a mere scratch and does not distress me in
the least," he went on, speaking very correct English, in his
curiously accented voice. He appeared to hesitate a little to pick
out the words and expressions he wanted, and, often, in such
cases, the wrong words, though correct enough in themselves, were
selected.

"I am at ease--all right, that is to say," he went on, with a
rather pale smile. "And so these young men saved us--saved our
lives? Is that what you mean, senor--I should say, sir?" and he
quickly corrected his slip.

"I should say they did!" exclaimed Hank with an air of
satisfaction. "Old Rex took matters into his own hands, or, ra