s with
you?" he added, turning to his companion.

"Of course I have!" was the reply.

"Then use them on these two boys!" ordered Katz. "Tie them together so
they won't be apt to go chasing off if we get into action."

Cullen did as requested, and the boys, unable to make resistance at that
time, resolved that both officers should pay well for the indignity in
the future. When the detectives started forward, they walked as slowly
as possible, one of them frequently falling down, in order to give the
person in the cavern, whoever he might be, plenty of time to observe the
approach of the detectives.

"Gee!" exclaimed Tommy. "These fellows blunder along like a load of hay.
If the man over there has any sense, he'll be a mile off before they get
to the entrance! I hope the train robbers are there!"

"Well, I hope Wagner isn't there," George said.

There were no signs of light as the two detectives scrambled up the
little slope which lay between the bottom of the gulch and the entrance
to the cavern. The faint smell of burning wood reached their nostrils,
but no one was in sight. They stepped inside boldly.

Following along behind, more as a matter of curiosity than because they
felt obliged to do so, the boys saw the detectives standing in the
twilight of the place looking about. Then they saw them drop their arms
to their sides, heard the clatter of revolvers upon the rocky floor and
realized that something unexpected was taking place inside.

Directly the detectives came out to the entrance and sat down on the
hard floor, their backs against the south wall. The boys looked them
over with pleased eyes, and Tommy went so far as to wrinkle his freckled
nose at Katz, who frowned savagely but said nothing.

"Look here, you fellows," Katz finally blurted out. "I want you to
understand that you're getting yourselves into trouble."

"Is that so?" came a hoarse and scornful voice from the darkness.

"I'm Detective Katz, of the Chicago force," continued the officer, "and
I command you, in the name of the law, to return our weapons and let us
depart in peace!"

"And I guess you don't know who we are!" came the voice from inside.
"We're Red Mike of the Gulch and Daring Dan of the Devil's Dip, and
we're out for blood! When we're at home in the Bad Lands, we feed on
rattlesnakes!"

"Say," Tommy whispered to George, "that ain't so bad, is it? Those
fellows know they've got the detectives buffaloed, and they're piling it