s rate to get home in
plenty of time for supper. Now, tell me all about yourselves."

Which they proceeded to do in detail, not neglecting the attempted
hold-up on the train. He listened with the keenest interest.

"So you got the best of 'Red' Thompson and 'Shag' Leary," he exclaimed in
astonishment. "The toughest nuts we've had to crack in this section for
years. A good many people will breathe easier now that they're trapped.
They're 'bad men' through and through, and if their pistol butts had a
notch on them for every man they've killed, they'd look like saws. And
with nothing but a paperweight and bare fists," he chuckled. "They sure
must feel sore. What was done with them?"

"Oh, the conductor handed them over to the sheriff at one of the
stations," answered Bert. "I suppose they'll be tried before long."

"Maybe," said Melton a little dubiously. "My own private hunch, though,
is that Judge Lynch will invite them to a little necktie party. They've
lived a heap sight too long already, and there won't be much formality
wasted on them.

"You boys sure have the nerve," he went on. "You got away with it all
right, but you took an awful chance."

"Yes," quoted Dick:

'An inch to the left or an inch to the right,
And we wouldn't be maundering here to-night.'"

"Those born to be hung will never be shot," laughed Tom. "I guess that
explains our escape so far."

"It beats the Dutch the faculty you fellows have of getting into scrapes
and out again," commented Melton. "I believe you'd smell a scrap a mile
away. You'd rather fight than eat."

"You won't think so when you see what we'll do to that supper of yours
to-night," retorted Tom. "Gee, but this air does give you an appetite."

"The one thing above all others that Tom doesn't need," chaffed Dick.
"But he's right, just the same. The way I feel I could make a wolf look
like thirty cents."

"You can't scare me with that kind of talk," challenged Melton. "Let out
your belts to the last notch and I'll guarantee they'll be tight when you
get up from the table."

"That listens good," said Tom. "I'm perfectly willing you should call my
bluff."

With jest and laughter the afternoon wore on and the shadows cast by the
declining sun began to lengthen. After their long confinement on the
train, the boys felt as though they had been released from prison. They
had been so accustomed to a free, unfettered life that they had chafed at
the three days' detentio