, before I forget it--I heard something that didn't sound so
good about that Mexican cook of ours. Delton let slip the hint that he
was one of his men--didn't exactly say that, but he led me to believe
he was."

"Did, hey? Well, I've been kind of suspicious of that Greaser ever
since we found him here alone, when the rest had beat it. Don't seem
reasonable that one man would stay at a ranch that has been cleaned
out, unless he had some business there. Delton's idea may have been to
let him stay and spy on us. Think we ought to kick him out?"

"That means we've got to find another cook. No, I think it will be all
right to let him stay if we watch him carefully. He sure is one peach
of a cook--I'll say that for him--and I don't think he'd deliberately
try to poison us."

"Oh, I'm not afraid of that. Of course we could make him taste each
dish he cooks for us, like they do in stories, but he'd sure suspect
something then. I believe in keeping a secret to yourself."

"You mean not letting him know we suspect him?"

"Yep! That's it. We can watch him if he doesn't know he's bein'
watched, but as soon as he knows we got something on him, we're
through."

"You're right about that, Kid. Say, where did you say the others were?"

"In town. Ought to be back soon, though. Billee Dobb is around some
place in back. Want to see him?"

"No, I'll wait till Nort and Dick get here and spill it all at once.
Let's go out."

The two arose and walked toward the yard. As they passed through the
door the Kid looked sharply about him, but the Mexican cook was nowhere
in sight. His lesson had been learned when the Kid had caught him
listening before.

They hadn't long to wait before they heard the approach of two riders.
Dick and Nort had returned.

"Something happened," Nort exclaimed after he had dismounted.

"How do you know?" Bud asked with wide-open eyes.

"I mean to us. Why, did something happen to you, too?"

"I'll tell you about it in a minute. Let's hear your story first."

"Not much of a story," Dick said. "We saw Delton."

"You did! Where?"

"You remember that water hole the Kid found the Chinaman at?"

"Yes--go ahead!"

"Well, Nort and I decided to take another look at it on our second trip
back from town, so we rode over. It isn't so far from here. And as we
reached it--only about an hour ago--we saw a group of men talking. We
rode up easy, but they heard us and beat it. We saw one of t