ye, and thar be some people as don't think it's jest
the safest place goin', what with the pesky cattle-rustler crowd as
comes up over the Mexican border to give the ranchers trouble; and
sometimes the Injuns off their reservation, with the young bucks primed
for a scrap."

"Is that all, Hank?" asked Frank, turning a smiling face upon the old
rider. Hank moved uneasily, seeming to squirm in his saddle.

"No, it ain't," he finally admitted, with a half grin; "that's Thunder
Mounting about twenty mile ahead o' ye. None o' us fellers keers a
heap 'bout headin' that-a-way. Twice I've been 'bliged to explore the
canyons thar, arter lost cattle; but I never did hanker 'bout the job.
It's a good place to keep away from, Frank."

"You don't say, Hank!" chuckled the boy. "Too bad; but you see that's
just the very place we expect to head for to-morrow--Thunder Mountain!"

The old man looked closely at him, and shook his head.

"I don't like to hear ye say that, Frank," he muttered, uneasily; "an'
I kinder reckons as how yer father'll feel oneasy when I tell him what
yer up to. 'Cause, I opine, ye wants me to carry thet same news back
home; don't ye?"

"Sure," answered the other, laughing. "That's what I meant when I said
I was glad we'd met up with you, Hank."

"But ye didn't expect to take a turn thar when ye left home, did ye?"
the veteran cowman went on.

"Never entered my head, Hank. Fact is, we weren't thinking of Thunder
Mountain up to an hour or two ago, when we ran across Peg Grant, who
was in town with his two followers, Spanish Joe and Nick Jennings."

"The wust as ever throwed a leg over leather," muttered Hank, between
his teeth. "We been talkin' it over, some o' us boys, an' 'bout kim to
the conclusion as how them fellers must be in touch with the Mendoza
crowd o' rustlers as draps over the Rio Grande every leetle while, to
grab a bunch o' long horns."

"My opinion exactly, Hank," went on Frank. "But listen till I tell you
what they are thinking of doing about finding out the secret of Thunder
Mountain."

Quickly he related the incident of their meeting Peg, and of his boast.

"They'll never do it, mark me," declared Hank, after he had been put in
possession of the main facts. "Thet noise ain't human! I been
a-hearin' it for the last forty years, an' I give ye my word it's
gittin' wuss right along. The reds believe as how it's the voice of
the Great Spirit talkin' to 'em. An' honest now, Fr