the smoke a while
back," he explained further. "He says a bunch of Greasers are trying
to do up his boss. Wants help!"

"Wa'al, he come to th' right place," remarked Babe Milton briefly, as,
with more speed than you would have believed he possessed, he ran
toward the corral.

Already several cowboys, sensing that something was wrong, had begun to
catch and saddle enough ponies to provide mounts for Bud, the foreman
and his fat helper.

"Give my cousins Baldy and Gimp!" cried Bud to one of the cowboys who
were in the corral. "You can ride those, even if you haven't got your
old clothes on," he added.

"Lively now!" cried the foreman, assuming, as was his right, command of
the little cavalcade. In less time than it takes to tell it, they were
riding along the trail, directed by Professor Blair, whose horse
seemed, somehow, to have recovered its wind sufficiently to keep pace
with the fresher steeds.

"Are you all right, fellows?" Bud called back to his cousins, as he,
himself, spurred ahead alongside Slim and Babe. Nort and Dick formed
the rear guard with the professor.

"Sure!" declared Nort. "Oh, boy! A fight the first day we get here,
Dick!" he yelled to his brother.

"Don't be too sure," called hack Bud. "These Greasers may hit the
trail as soon as we head into sight."

"Greasers are Mexicans, aren't they?" asked Dick.

"Yes," answered Professor Blair, who rode between the two easterners.
"We had to engage some, and I believe a few Indians, also, in our
prospecting work. Our own men are all right, but we were attacked by
some strange Mexicans and Indians--or we were about to be attacked,
when I rode off for help."

"What started the row?" asked Bud.

The question seemed to embarrass Professor Blair.

"The Mexicans seem to think we have something of value, or at least
know where valuables may be," he answered. "I believe they think we
are after desert gold, and though we have found some----"

"You have found _gold_!" cried Bud.

"No! No! It is a false rumor!" hastily declared the professor. "But
Professor Wright has been obliged to keep secret the object of his
search, and perhaps the mystery surrounding it has been misconstrued by
the ignorant men. They declare we are after gold, but it is something
far more valuable, though I am not allowed to disclose what----"

He was interrupted by the sound of distant shooting, followed by faint
yells. Bud Merkel clapped spurs to his horse and s