saw the grizzled head of the old cowman thrust
into view.

CHAPTER XXII

ONCE MORE AT CIRCLE RANCH--CONCLUSION

After all, it was not a very great task, getting the two saddle boys up
from the friendly shelf. Old Hank lowered his lariat; and after Bob
had slipped the loop under his arms, he was pulled to safety. Then
Frank followed.

They found that Hank had half a dozen cowboys with him, some of the
most daring connected with Circle Ranch. Overtaken by the storm while
at the base of the mountain, they had waited for daylight, and then
started afoot to make the ascent. The presence of the new river in the
bed of the long empty _barranca_ astonished these cowmen exceedingly.
And when they heard all that the boys had to tell they were almost of
the opinion that they must have been dreaming.

But there was the evidence before their very eyes, and nobody could
deny that the old-time river, that had been bottled up underground for
so long, had finally found a way to break forth once more, aided by the
geyser that for a century had beaten that tremendous tattoo every
little while against the inner walls of the rocky mountain.

"Then there won't be no more racket, will there?" old Hank asked, as he
lay there, looking down at the rushing current of the new stream that
would no doubt readily follow its long abandoned course, until it
reached the distant Colorado, somewhere along the Grand Canyon.

"The chances are against it," replied Frank.

"But let's try and find our horses," Bob suggested, after he had
finished eating what food the newcomers had taken the pains to prepare
for the lost ones.

"Yes, I'm anxious myself to find out how Buckskin's weathered the
gale," Frank put in.

The two horses were found in good shape, but glad to once more see
their masters, if the whinnies that greeted the coming of Frank and Bob
might be looked upon as evidence of this.

And then another difficult task awaited them. To get the animals down
to the level plain, now that the canyon was out of commission, taxed
the ingenuity of even so expert a plainsman as Hank Coombs; but it was
finally accomplished.

Then the horses of the cowboys were found, and the entire party started
for the distant ranch, expecting to complete their jaunt before sundown.

Old Hank was deeply interested in what the boys had to tell about the
band of rustlers passing, with all the led horses.

"Didn't git 'em from our ranch," he declared; "an