stations at
all. At one point they came to a halt where there was a large corral,
and the boys and girls watched the efforts of several cowboys to lasso a
bronco that was untrained. The bronco eluded the rope with apparent
ease.

"Some of 'em are mighty tricky," explained Sid Todd. "I remember two
years ago, we had one bronco nobody at the Star could touch. I reckon he
was sure mad, for finally he bit Hank Snogger, and Hank had to treat him
to a dose of lead."

"Is Hank Snogger still with Mr. Endicott?" questioned Laura.

"No, he ain't," answered Sid Todd, shortly. "He left two months ago. A
good job done, too," added the cowboy.

"Who was this Hank Snogger?" asked Dave, in a low voice of his sister,
for he saw that the subject was distasteful to Todd.

"He was one of the cowboys working for Mr. Endicott," answered Laura.
"He was rather a queer kind of a man."

"Bramley's just ahead," announced Sid Todd, presently. "Maybe you can
catch sight of somebody you know," he added to Laura, as the train
rounded the curve of a small hill.

"I see a young lady on horseback, and a man!" cried Dave's sister a few
minutes later. "It's Belle, and her father! They came to meet us! Oh, I
must signal to them!" And she waved her handkerchief from the car
window. Soon Belle Endicott saw it, and waved her big straw hat in
return.

"Welcome to the West!" she cried, merrily, as she dashed up on her pony
beside the railroad tracks. "Oh, I was so afraid you wouldn't come!"

"And I was so afraid you'd miss our telegram and wouldn't meet us,"
returned Laura.

As soon as the train came to a stop the boys hopped down and assisted
the girls to alight. Sid Todd followed, with the hand baggage, and the
whole party gathered in a group, while Mr. Endicott and Belle dismounted
to greet them.

"Very glad to know you," said the railroad president, with a genial
smile overspreading his features. "I feel as if I knew Morr already. I
have met his father and mother several times in Washington."

"Yes, so dad wrote," answered the senator's son.

"And I feel as if I knew you, and Miss Belle," said Dave. "I've heard so
much about you from Laura."

"And we've heard so much about you!" cried Belle. "Oh, wasn't it simply
wonderful how you found your folks! Why, it's almost like a page out of
a fairy book!"

"Not quite," put in Phil. "Fairy stories aren't true, while this really
happened."

"Some day Dave has got to tell me the whole story from