obscured by the fog.

In about two seconds he had hove alongside of the horse that the mate
was on. Tom was foot-loose, and no sooner did he see Missouri's long
ears through the fog, than he was ready for action.

"Jump, Tom," urged Jim. It took only about two seconds for Tom to
execute the manoeuvre.

"Halt!" roared the Captain, and he tried to turn the roan to capture the
runaways, but right here, the broncho strain in the animal showed
itself.

He began to buck and never in all his experience had the redoubtable
Captain Broom ever been on so choppy a sea. It was hard to distinguish
fog from whiskers. At the second hunch upward, the Captain shot into
space. The boys did not tarry to watch for his descent. A word from
Juarez to the mule, and Missouri turned directly south just as Jack
Cales came rushing up.

"Touch him with your foot, Tom," said Juarez, meaning the mule, not
Cales. Tom's heel reached the right spot and up flew the mule's hind
feet with the rapidity of a rapid fire-gun.

One foot struck Cales on the shoulder with a sufficient impact to send
him down and out. The mate had been involved in the cyclone of which
Captain Broom was the centre. Tom's horse, considered the gentlest of
the four, had become infected with the roan's example and he started in
to do a little bucking on his own account. Never since the mate had
rounded Cape Horn, had he known so much action in so short a time.

The only one left was Old Pete and he came on right gallantly, but by
dodging and turning they got away in the fog. After putting what they
considered a safe distance between themselves and their former captors,
Juarez persuaded Missouri to halt, and Tom went to work and with great
difficulty first untied, then lifted, them to the ground for the boys
were as stiff as boards from being tied hard and fast for so long a
time.

"My, but it certainly hurts," said Jo, stamping around in an endeavor to
get the blood to circulating again. "It's just like it used to be back
home in the winter when we would go skating and get our hands numb."

"What is the matter, Juarez?" asked Jim in alarm.

"Oh, I'm all right, I guess," he said in a voice that sounded faint to
the boys and far away to himself. Then, without warning, he fell over on
the ground and stiffened out.

"It's from the blow that the greaser gave him," said Tom. "It would have
killed him if it had struck him fair."

"Wait until I get my hands on him," cried Ji