d visions of sudden death at the
hands of a wild and woolly Westerner--one of those 'dear Americanos whom
he loved as a brother--and he came down like Davy Crockett's coon. He
started ringing all sorts of bells on his desk and sending this one here
and the other one there, and promised by all the saints that he'd have
them on the trail within an hour or two. To make it surer I asked the
consul as a special favor to say that if they didn't come, I'd be back in
a day or two--drop in kind o' casual as it were--to know the reason
why."

He chuckled, as he refilled his pipe and went on:

"Of course, I couldn't wait around there on any such chance as that. We
went straight back to the consul's office and these three horses were
waiting for me. They ain't much to brag of and I've got some on my ranch
that could lay all over them. But they're gritty little beasts and the
best that could be got on such short notice. The consul lent me his
rifle which seems to be a pretty good one, and I've got the pair of
revolvers that I always carry with me.

"Then I struck the spurs pretty sharply into the broncho and lighted out.
I knew there wasn't much daylight left and we certainly did some
traveling. I wanted to get up to you before dark if I could, but you had
too big a start. I had no trouble in following the trail--I've tracked
Sioux Indians before now, and these Mexicans are babies compared to them,
when it comes to covering up--and when the dark came on I knew I wasn't
very far behind. Then as the horses were still full of go, I just
dropped the reins on their neck and let them meander along. So many
horses have passed this way that I felt sure they would get the scent and
keep on in the right direction. And as you see I wasn't very far out.

"Well," he ruminated, "I guess that's about all."

"All!" exclaimed Bert, warmly. "As if that wasn't enough. I never knew
a finer or more generous thing. You've put us in your debt for life."

"Yes," broke in Tom, "for sheer pluck and goodness of heart----"

"Come, come," laughed Melton, "that's nothing at all. It's I who owe you
a lot for the chance to get into such a lively scrap as this promises to
be. I was getting rusty and beginning to feel that I was out of it. But
now I feel as though twenty years had dropped away since this morning,
and I'm just aching to hear the bark of a gun. It takes me back to the
wild old days, when a man's life depended upon his quicknes