nt to take the chance, I'm willing."

"What chance?" demanded the stranger.

"Tad Butler might take it into his head to throw you out, or something,
if he doesn't like your looks."

"I'll take the chance."

"All right; come on. But mind you, it'll be the worse for you if you try
to start anything. We're a bad lot, we are, and don't you forget it."

A moment or so later the Pony Rider Boys were amazed to see Stacy
strutting in with a stranger in tow.

"He's with us fellows," was the fat boy's announcement.

"Withem's my name," corrected the stranger.

"Yes, he's with 'em. But he hasn't said who it is he is with. I
thought I was with him when he shoved a pistol under my nose."

"Good evening, sir," said Tad stepping up, directing a quick, keen
glance of inquiry into the eyes of the newcomer. In that one glance
Butler decided that the man was all right. It was a relief to see a
face like that after their experience with the mountaineer.

As for the prisoner himself, who lay back in a shadow now, he started
violently the instant he beheld the man who had just come into the
camp of the Pony Rider Boys. The prisoner looked as if he had a severe
case of ague for he fairly shrank within himself.

"You are just in time to join us for a bite, Mr. Withem. That is your
name, is it not?"

"That's my name."

"Mine is Tad Butler. This is Professor Zepplin. The young man with
whom you came in is Stacy Brown, otherwise Chunky, and here are Mr.
Rector and Mr. Perkins. If you will gather around the fire I'll serve
the chuck."

"Thanks, young man. You certainly know how to do the honors, as well
as how to fry bacon. I could smell that across a county and I'd ride
to it as fast as horseflesh could carry me."

"Are you from these parts?" asked the professor after they had seated
themselves on the ground.

"Yes, I'm from everywhere," laughed Withem. "By the way, young man,
that looks like the mark of a bullet on your cheek," he continued,
bending a keen glance on Stacy.

"Then it looks like what it is," muttered the fat boy.

"I don't want to be inquisitive, but---"

"No, it isn't considered good manners to be too curious down in this
country, I've heard."

"Right you are, yonnker," laughed Withem, in which the others joined
heartily. "Men have been known to get into trouble by being too
curious, especially down on the Rio Grande. The-----"

The visitor's conversation was interrupted by something fal