ed of
Paris and school and I want to see the real wilderness."

"It's gone!" interrupted Roy again with a laugh.

"All gone?" asked the young man with a peculiar look.

"Nearly all," exclaimed Norman; "unless you go a great ways from here.
Unless," he continued, his smile broadening into a grin, "you can arrange
to go home with Moosetooth here or La Biche."

"Well," responded the young man as he lit a new cigarette, "if that's
true I think I'm going with them."

His tone was so positive and so conclusive that neither Norman nor Roy
made any immediate comment. Moved by politeness they asked the young man
if he would care to have a look at the airship. While Norman explained
something about himself and his companion the three young men made their
way back to the aerodrome. Before they reached it he had related their
own small adventures.

Then young Zept had made them further acquainted with himself. Like his
father he had been born in Austria and later had been sent to school in
Paris. There, as Norman and Roy could see, he had received a more than
ordinary education, part of which, as the boys afterwards learned, was
devoted to music. They also learned later that although not a great
singer he had a pleasing tenor voice.

Paul told them himself that he had devoted a great deal of time to
horsemanship. This, he explained, was doubtless due to the fact that his
father had always engaged in the raising and selling of horses. The young
man also explained to the boys that he had not only received the ordinary
riding lessons but that he had also been trained under Austrian and
Italian military riding masters. His interest in the coming "Stampede"
was due largely to the exhibit of horsemanship that he expected to see.

"I can't see why you wouldn't like life on a horse ranch," commented Roy
at last.

"No matter!" responded the young man. "I do like horses and I know it's
going to be a jolly row with the governor but I've always had my own way
and I don't think he'll stop me now. I think I'm going into the
wilderness--even if I have to go alone. I've been riding horses all my
life. Now I want to do something. The governor wants me to go in for
making money. I want to _discover_ something."

Again the two boys looked at each other without knowing just what to say.
Their new acquaintance was certainly affable enough, but his education
and his foreign bearing put him somewhat above the young men and they
felt a certain