e them after they slow down."

"Oh, we're going to keep on in pursuit!" cried the officer, "But we have
little hope of overtaking them. They're probably five miles in the lead
right now. They've been riding while we've been walking."

"Why walking?" asked the boy.

"Because they shot our horses," gritted the officer.

After partaking of a midnight supper, including several cups of hot
coffee apiece, the man-hunters continued on their way, looking longingly
in the direction of the burros as they passed out of the light of the
fire.

"Now that's what I call rotten!" Tommy exclaimed as the voices of the
men died away in the darkness. "We've just made camp in a place that
looks good to me, and here comes a band of train robbers and a
delegation of lynchers ready to make us all kinds of trouble."

"I don't see why they should make us trouble," Sandy objected.

"Well, they will just the same," Will broke in. "They'll hang around the
hills to the north, and officers will be chasing in after them, and,
between them they'll give us a merry little time! If the messenger
doesn't come tomorrow, we'll break camp and get into some other
locality."

"I should say so!" exclaimed Tommy. "We went to Lake Superior and got
into a nest of diamond smugglers, and we went to the Florida Everglades
and got into a bunch of swamp outlaws and wreckers, and I've been
counting on a nice quiet vacation this trip."

"We surely do have bad luck on our outing trips!" laughed Sandy. "But I
rather enjoy the excitement after all!" he added, with a grin.

"Well, you wait until you get a band of train robbers shooting from one
side, and a band of cowboys shooting from the other side, and you won't
think it's so funny!" exclaimed George.

While the boys talked they heard a rustling in the long grass to the
north and east, and directly a figure, crouching low and apparently
walking with great caution, appeared in view.

"That's one now!" whispered Tommy.

"That's right!" returned Sandy. "That's one coward!"

"Oh, I see," Tommy whispered. "That's Katz!"

The stranger now approached the fire, swinging his rifle jauntily in his
hand and throwing his shoulders back until his body swung forward with a
decided strut. He looked from one boy to the other as he came closer,
apparently seeking to learn from their expressions exactly what was in
their minds. The boys' faces remained perfectly grave.

"It's no use!" Katz said in a moment, putting the bu