s hog-tied and ready fer the brand."

"By ginger! I cal-kerlate ther ain't no de-oubt uv thet," drawled
Rafter, as the professor dropped his hold on Ramon's locks, and began
flourishing a small geological hammer.

It would be wearisome to relate in detail all that took place at the
mesa after this, but suffice it to say that Ramon's rage on the
discovery that the lads had accidentally found the underground
passageway was what it might have been imagined to be. As we know, a
fruitless pursuit of them followed.

This over, the rascals were faced with a dilemma. The boat in which it
had been arranged that Hickey, Divver and Rafter were to take passage
had been appropriated by the boys.

"A thousand evils light upon them," raged Ramon, as he stood dripping
on the bank of the stream. "It is a hundred to one that they also
seize the three horses I had reserved for your use, gentlemen."

"Waal, I calkerlate thet sooner er later we'll cotch up ter these young
catermounts, and then, by chowder, we'll mek it quite interesting fer
them, whatsoever," promised Rafter significantly.

"Looks like we'll hev ter trek across ther mountains, after all,"
commented Hickey, no more moved by what had occurred than he ever was
by anything.

But in this he reckoned without Ramon's resourcefulness. The Mexican
was as clever as he was unscrupulous. Necessity being the mother of
invention, he soon devised a plan to avoid the long and perilous
excursion across the barren hills.

Under his direction, the wagon-bed was taken off the running-gear, and
the tarpaulin cover so adjusted as to make it water-tight. Rafter was
a skillful carpenter, having once done honest work in a Maine shipyard,
so that the improvised boat was soon ready for transportation. Working
all night, in shifts, it was ready for its voyage down the river the
next morning, and just about the time our lads were eating breakfast,
the desperadoes, with the professor and Pete lying tightly bound in the
bottom of the clumsy craft, made a start.

The stock, including that of the ranch party, which Hickey's sharp eyes
had discovered, was left in charge of some of Ramon's mestizos at the
mesa. As ill-luck would have it, almost the first thing that greeted
their eyes when they emerged from the tunnel was the sight of the old
Mexican whom Jack had bound and set adrift. He had been rescued from
his predicament by a rancher about ten miles down the stream, and had
made the