er the sky, obscuring the stars.

"It would be worse than useless to start out on the chase now," said
Hank. "We can't do anything until morning."

"But they'll be too far away then," objected Blake. "And, while it might
do little harm if they opened those film boxes in the darkness, it sure
would spoil every picture we took to have them exposed in daylight.
Let's go now!" and he started toward the animals.

"No," and Hank shook his head. "I don't think you need worry about not
catching those fellers in daylight," he went on. "They won't go far
before stopping to eat the stuff they took from us. Then they'll have a
sleep and start on the trail by daylight. We can do the same, and I
think we can catch up with them. It would be risky to start out at
night in a country we know so little about. We'll have to wait."

Blake sighed, but there was no help for it. The upset camp was put in
some kind of shape, the horses were again looked to, and the fire once
more replenished. The travelers carried an unusually large supply of
provisions, and though most of these had been taken, there was still
enough food left for a day or two. In that time they might be able to
get more, if they could not recapture their own from the Indians.

"We'll start the first thing in the morning, as soon as it is light
enough to see," decided Hank. "And now, if it's all the same to you
boys, I'm going to have a bite to eat. That excitement made me hungry."

"Same here," confessed Joe, and soon they were all satisfying their
appetites.

"Oh, but I do hope we can catch up with them and take those films away
from 'em," murmured Blake, as he again sought his tent.

"We will," declared Joe, with conviction. "If we have to, I'll get word
to my soldier uncle and have the troops chase 'em."

"The only trouble is that it might be too late," spoke Blake. "I'm
afraid of the films getting light-struck. But I guess all we can do is
to wait and trust to luck."

There was no further alarm that night, and after a hasty breakfast,
eaten when it was hardly light enough to see, the remaining supplies and
provisions were packed and the ponies saddled.

"I guess we can start now," exclaimed Hank, as he leaped to his steed.
"It will soon be lighter. Forward, march!"

CHAPTER IV

BACK TO "BIG B."

"Well, we haven't caught up to 'em yet," remarked Joe Duncan, about noon
the next day, when they stopped for a little lunch and to allow the
horses to drin