er Miss--" He broke off,
struck by a sudden possibility. "You don't suppose he'll get really nasty
about what you--"

"Hell!" broke in Bud sharply. "I wasn't thinking about that. He'll be
nasty, of course, but he can't go more than so far. I reckon you're right,
Buck. Miss Mary oughtn't to be left there by herself."

"Of course, there's Manning--"

Bud disposed of the aristocratic Alfred with a forceable epithet which
ought to have made his ears burn. "Besides, that bird ain't goin' to stay
forever, I hope," he added.

This settled, they passed on to other details, and by the time they
reached Paloma, everything had been threshed out and decided, including a
possible means of communication in case of emergency.

Ravenously hungry, they sought the ramshackle hotel at once, and though it
was long after the regular supper hour, they succeeded in getting a fair
meal cooked and served. Concluding that it would be pleasanter all around
to give Lynch as much time as possible to recover from his spleen, Bud
decided to defer his return to the ranch until early morning. So when they
had finished eating, they walked down to the store to arrange for hiring
one of Daggett's horses again. Here they were forced to spend half an hour
listening to old Pop's garrulous comments and the repeated "I told you
so," which greeted the news of Stratton's move before they could tear
themselves away and turn in.

They were up at dawn, ate a hurried breakfast, and then set out along the
trail. Where the Rocking-R track branched off they paused for a few casual
words of farewell, and then each went his way. A few hundred yards beyond,
Buck turned in his saddle just in time to see Jessup, leading Stratton's
old mount, ride briskly into a shallow draw and disappear.

He had a feeling that he was going to miss the youngster, with his
cheerful optimism and dependable ways; but he felt that at the most a few
weeks would see them together again. Fortunately for his peace of mind, he
had not the least suspicion of the circumstances which were to bring about
their next meeting.

CHAPTER XIX

THE MYSTERIOUS MOTOR-CAR

Buck took to Jim Tenny at once. There was something about this long, lean,
brown-faced foreman of the Rocking-R, with his clear gray eyes and that
half-humorous twist to his thin lips, which inspired not only confidence
but liking as well. He listened without comment to Buck's story, which
included practically everything sav