ives."

"If it's worth five hundred to you to have Pawnee Brown knocked over it
ought to be worth more to have both of 'em laid low," suggested Tucker,
who was naturally a grasping fellow.

"Five hundred in cold cash is a good deal in these times," was the slow
answer. "But I'll tell you what I'll do. If, after a fight, you can
bring me absolute proof that Pawnee Brown and Dick Arbuckle are dead
I'll give you an even twelve hundred dollars, the five hundred I
borrowed and seven hundred extra. There's my hand on it. What do you
say?"

"Will you promise to give me the money as soon as you have the proofs?"

"I will," and Louis Vorlange raised his right hand as though to make
good such a blasphemous promise.

"All right, then; I take you up," answered Tucker.

CHAPTER VI.

DICK'S HUNT.

"Don't you take it so hard, my lad; I feel certain that your father will
turn up sooner or later."

It was Pawnee Brown who spoke. He addressed Dick, who sat on a horse
belonging to Jack Rasco. The pair had been scouring the plains and the
woods for three hours in search of Dick's father.

"Poor father! If only I knew what had become of him!" sighed the lad.

In his anxiety he had forgotten all about his adventures among the
cavalrymen who had sought to detain him as a horse thief.

"It's a mystery, thet's what it is," burst in Jack Rasco.

"It looks loike the hivens hed opened an' swalleyed him up," was Mike
Delaney's comment. "Be jabbers, we all know th' hivens was wide open
enough last noight. Me turn-out is afther standin' in two foot o' wather,
an' Rosy raisin' the mischief because she can't go out. 'Moike,' sez
she, 'Moike Delaney, git a boat or Oi'll be drowned,' an' niver a boat
in sight. Th' ould woman will have to shtay in the wagon till the wather
runs off of itself."

"I wonder if it is possible my poor father wandered into town," mused
Dick. "Perhaps he did that and was locked up by the police. He is--well,
you know he gets strange spells," and the youth's face flushed.

"Run into town, lad, and make a search," answered the boomer. "If I and
Rasco get the chance we'll follow. We shan't strike camp for several
hours yet."

Dick thought this good advice and was soon on his way. The rain had
stopped entirely and the sun was just peeping up over the distant plains
when he entered Arkansas City and began his hunt.

A visit to the police station speedily revealed the fact that nothing
was known there con