r him to remain quiet.

But Professor Wright had caught Bud's remark, and it seemed to give a
new light to the scientist. He stepped forward, having seen to it that
the rope, by which something, "ten million years old," was being
hoisted from the earth, was made fast. The steers, which had been
straining to lift the weight, were now comparatively quiet, and the
second bunch, driven in by Del Pinzo's men, were cropping grass near
the stream.

"There seems to have been some mistake," said Professor Wright. "We
intended to pay you for the use of your cattle, Mr. Merkel, as I
understand your name to be. And, now that we have almost accomplished
our search, we shall have no further need of your beasts. I don't know
why my helper sent after more, for those we have are amply able to lift
out the fossils. We shall be through with your animals in a few hours,
and will then pay anything in reason for their borrowed use."

A light seemed also to break over Bud's father, and the boy ranchers
looked at one another with a new understanding.

"Do you mean to say," began the owner of the Diamond X ranch, "that you
only wanted to use my cattle as you might use oxen--as draft animals?"

"Of course," said Professor Blair. "That is all we wanted them for.
Did you think we intended to _keep_ them?"

"Well--er--you'll excuse me saying so, but we certainly _did_!"
declared Bud's father. "Rustling, we call it here, and it means
driving off another man's branded stock. It isn't all clear to me yet.
What are you after, anyhow? What's down in that hole, and what is it
that is ten million years old?"

"A Triceratops," answered Professor Wright. "We have been on the track
of one for a long time, and now we have found it. Almost the only
complete remains of the most perfect Triceratops it has ever been the
fortune of anyone to discover! If you will only have a little
patience, and grant us the use of your steers a short time longer,
until we hoist from its ancient bed the remains, you may soon look upon
one of nature's wonders--a Triceratops!"

"Triceratops!" murmured Babe Milton. "Is that one of them slidin'
_horns_ you blow your lungs out on?"

"You're thinkin' of a trombone," said Snake Purdee, laughing.

"Or a saxophone," said Bud.

"No," said Dick, "I remember now. A Triceratops is one of the ancient
Dinosaurs, or lizard animals, that roamed the earth millions of years
ago. We studied a little about them in the Acad