,
then there was a gulch twelve feet wide and of considerable depth. It
was a good jump and to make it saved a little distance. Going at top
speed the chestnut took the jump in fine style. His rider half turned in
his saddle to watch Jim's effort. Caliente had faced worse leaps than
that, he rose to it and swept over it as gracefully as a bird.

"Good fellow!" exclaimed Jim patting him affectionately on the neck.

CHAPTER XXI

THE BANDITS

When Jo saw the gulch ahead, he decided that discretion was the better
part of valor as he did not know his mount well enough to risk the leap,
so he galloped a few hundred feet below, where the gulch narrowed and
then he took the jump nicely, and scampered after the other two riders
who were quite a way ahead.

Jim purposely held Caliente in check, keeping a hundred yards in the
rear of the Spaniard. Ahead a few miles, there was a perfect sea of
yellow where the tall mustard covered the plain for a great distance.
Into this they charged full tilt, the mustard reaching as high as their
heads.

There was a swish of its blossoms in their faces as the powerful horses
charged into it and in spite of their strength they began to tire after
going some distance.

"Where is Jo?" inquired Jim suddenly after they had slowed down, "I
don't see a sign of him." And he rose in his stirrups looking over the
level lake of mustard.

"Hello, Jo," he yelled at the top of his voice. No answer came. Could he
be drowned in this lake? There was not a motion to indicate his
whereabouts, no waving of the yellow tops.

"It is very strange," said the Spaniard. "Did he cross the gully all
right?"

"Yes, I saw him take the jump below us a ways." Then Jim raised his
revolver above his head and fired.

"That ought to fetch him," he said. Then they listened intently.
Suddenly about a quarter of a mile ahead of them they saw a sombrero
rise like a gray mushroom above the yellow surface of the mustard, and
Jo's voice came back to them.

They both gave their horses the rein, this time Jim did nothing to hold
Caliente back, and with their powerful speed the two great horses tore
forward, on even terms until in the last hundred yards Caliente forged
ahead by half a length.

"Hold on boys," yelled Jo in warning. There was Jo sitting quietly on
his horse.

"That's how you beat us," exclaimed Jim, pointing to a cow trail running
diagonally through the growth of mustard.

"Yes," laughed Jo, "I s