returned," suggested George.

"Well, they may have seen them sitting in the flap of the tent eating
our good pork and beans and roast beef," Will went on.

"If they knew that the two strangers were hiding in the back corner of
one of the tents," George commented, "I don't think they'd hesitate much
longer. These two visitors may be all right, but they don't look it!"

"Why don't you go and ask them if they wouldn't like to have us dig a
hole to put them in?" demanded Sandy.

While the boys were puzzling over the situation, Seth, the deputy who
had defended the Boy Scouts when they stood in grave danger of being
lynched, separated himself from the group of officers and advanced
toward the camp. There was a smile on the deputy's face as he approached
but the other members of the party were scowling heavily.

The boys dropped the muzzles of their automatics as Seth came up to the
fire. The deputy stood for a moment glancing keenly around at the tents,
the burros, and the cooking utensils before speaking.

"Glad to see you so comfortably situated boys," he said, "and I'm glad,
also," he went on pointing to the pennants which showed at the tops of
the tents, "to see that you're not ashamed to show your colors."

"We're proud of being Boy Scouts!" Will declared.

"And we're proud of the Beaver Patrol!" George cut in.

"That's right, boys!" Seth said "Stick to Boy Scout laws and teachings
and you can't go very far wrong."

"What are those fellows going to do now?" asked Will, nodding toward the
cowboy officers, who had now thrown themselves down upon the long grass
of the valley. "They didn't follow us here just for exercise."

"If those train robbers really are friends of yours," Seth replied,
"they have done you, perhaps unintentionally, a great deal of harm. It
is an old saying, you know," the deputy went on, "that one fool friend
can work a man more mischief than a dozen open enemies."

"I suppose you people think now," Will said, "that we really do train
with that bunch of robbers."

"I don't!" declared Seth. "I know you to be honest Boy Scouts, and no
counterfeits, and I don't believe such lads mix up with train robbers."

"We don't at all events," Will answered.

"Look here," George interrupted, "the train robbers saw a chance to rub
it into the officers and they did it. That's all there is to that! They
would have protected the detectives who were searching the mountains, or
even a band of burglars, ju