us in their eyes. They are all old and fugitive
criminals, and if we knew them I think that we would find that they are
all wanted in one or more of the States and Territories, and that the
aggregate amount of rewards which have been offered for them, dead or
alive, would amount to a neat sum. They do not need marshals in this
part of the country. There may be other reasons why they will make war
on us, which we will learn later, but the ones I have mentioned are
sufficient for them to make themselves very troublesome."

"So you think it is war, eh?" said Stella.

"I do, and I think that you will be a shining mark for them when they
learn that you are here. For that reason I would warn you to be very
careful where you go about the ranch, and especially ask you not to ride
about alone, and to keep away from the mountains."

"Oh, dear, and just when I had planned to explore those mountains from
one end to the other," said Stella, with a pout.

"Can't help it. You know what would happen if they should catch you and
spirit you off as Shan Rhue did in the Wichita Mountains."

"Yes, I know, I'm a lot of trouble to you, Ted, but you know I don't
mean to be."

"Of course I know it, but if you run into danger, and expose yourself to
the attack of those who are avowedly our enemies, you run the chance of
being caught, and then, of course, it is our duty to get you out of
trouble."

"Well, I'll be good."

"The attempted killing of Follansbee was no accident," continued Ted.
"It was the work of an exceedingly shrewd man, who knows the moral
effect of his strange and mysterious appearance."

"Ain't it a ghost?" asked Carl, who had become all swelled up at the
thought that he had made a ghost run away from him.

"I should say not."

"Den vy shouldn't mine bullets haf killed him?"

"I'm sure I don't know. That is why I say that he is a remarkably clever
man, and it is probably the cause of the power he wields that he is able
to do such things. It wouldn't surprise me any if some day we learned
that your visitor was none other than the renowned Whipple himself."

"What are you going to do about it?" asked Stella.

"What can we do? We wouldn't know a single member of the gang if we were
to meet him. We don't know where they hang out, and if we did we know
nothing about the Sweet Grass Mountains, and could not go to where they
are. All we can do is to watch the ranch house and the cattle as a cat
watches a mouse, and if