dn't open the door to
you. Then you sent one of your party somewhere for food, and since you
had your supper, you have amused us by sitting in front of the hut. Is
that enough?"

"Plenty, and thank you!" was the reply, made in such a cheery tone that
there was no question but that it had been sufficiently convincing.

Then Bob scrambled upon his rather shaky perch once more, in order to
give full information to his companions of the movements of those
outside.

He reported from time to time as to what they were doing in the way
getting their teams ready, looking around the premises, but without
taking more than a casual glance at the rear of the house, however, and
then he said:

"Now they are getting into their wagons. Now they are driving out on the
road, and now," he added, as he leaped down with a loud shout, "they
have disappeared to find the parties who shot the Hoxie well, perfectly
content that we could have had no hand in the business, since it is a
certainty in Newcombe's mind that we have not left the hut since he
drove up here. Hurrah for Bob Hubbard's scheme, and Newcombe's belief in
his own ability as a detective!"

CHAPTER VIII.

NEW QUARTERS.

Until nearly daylight the boys remained awake, laughing over Newcombe's
credulity, or congratulating each other on the success of that night's
work, and then Bob, who for half an hour had been studying some plan,
said:

"It isn't best for us to spend all our time laughing at Newcombe, or we
may find out that he's smarter than we give him credit of being. If we
expect to shoot any more wells in this vicinity, we must change our
quarters, for we can safely count on this being watched."

"What if it is?" cried Dick, their success having made him very bold.
"Wasn't it watched to-night, and didn't we shoot the Hoxie well in spite
of them all?"

"Yes, we fooled Newcombe well; but we might find it difficult to do so
the second time. Then again, all our work would not be as convenient to
the hut as this was, and if it had been necessary for us to get our
horses out, you must admit that Newcombe had us very foul."

And Bob, while he felt thoroughly elated by their victory, did not want
that his partners should come to believe that all difficulties could be
surmounted as readily.

"But what do you mean about changing our quarters?" asked Jim, who
looked upon their hut as something particularly convenient and well
located.

"I mean that we have got