w they could
have slipped by us as easily as they did."

"Maybe they didn't."

"They must have done so. There is no hole in the ground over there, as
you can see for yourself. Even if there were, what good would it have
done the men? Let's go over and see if we can pick up a trail of some
sort."

"I'm with you. Where shall we begin?"

"You go to the left and I'll go to the right. We will meet somewhere
near the fallen tree unless we get side-tracked."

The tree referred to was a huge one. It lay at the base of a great
pile of rocks, from which it evidently had slipped. In falling it had
carried its roots with it. These roots, massed with dirt and stone,
stood up in the air all of fifteen feet. The top of the tree was a
hundred feet further out. It must have been a magnificent tree when
it stood towering from the top of the rocks there and no doubt was a
landmark for all that part of the Guadalupe Range. The trunk at the
top stood free of the ground several feet, the trunk nearer the roots
resting on an almost knife-like edge of rock that had cut deeply into
the trunk when the tree fell.

Stacy gazed at the tree and decided that it would make an excellent
thing to climb. He stepped up on the trunk at the roots, walking out
toward the top.

"Come on up. The walking's great, Tad," he cried.

"I'll be there pretty soon."

After looking about for several minutes Butler followed his companion.
But Tad paused before climbing up. He eyed that towering mass of
roots, dirt and stones with interest.

"See anything funny?" called Stacy.

"No, nothing particularly funny. I do see the print of a horseshoe
here on the rocks where some dirt has stuck to the shoe and been left
on the stone. It isn't any of our stock as nearly as I can determine.
I guess it must have been some of those fellows last night. They
evidently were shooting from behind the tree here."

"They weren't shooting from behind much of anything, as well as I
could judge," answered the fat boy.

Tad climbed up and made his way slowly along the tree trunk. As he
neared his companion, he felt the tree settle a little. This at the
moment did not make any particular impression on the Pony Rider Boy.
Their combined weight might cause the outer end to give a little.
Then all at once a howl from Chunky caused Tad to grasp a branch to
save himself.

The tree top was settling slowly.

"Look, look!" cried the fat boy.

Tad turned, amazeme