from a severe fright, stopped to explain the
adventure that had befallen him while he had been night fishing.

"I seen spooks, Mr. Gordon--hundreds of 'em--coming down the river bank
on horseback--honest to goodness, I did."

"Jimmie, if I had your imagination----"

But Davis cut into Dick's smiling incredulity:

"Did you say on horseback, Jimmie?"

"Yes, sir, on horseback. Hope to die if they weren't--'bout fifty of
them."

"You better run along home before they catch you, Jimmie," advised the
old miner gravely.

The boy went like a streak of light. Davis turned quietly to his
partner.

"I reckon it's come, Dick."

"You believe the boy did see some men on horseback? It might have been
only shadows."

"No, sir. His imagination wouldn't have put spooks _on horseback_. We
got no time to argue. You going to hold the fort here or take to the
hills?"

"You think they mean to attack us in the open?"

"They're hoping to surprise us, I reckon. That's why they're coming
along the creek instead of the road. Hadn't 'a' been for Jimmie, they
would have picked us off from the porch before we could say 'Jack
Robinson.'"

Both men had at once stepped within the log cabin, and, as they talked,
were strapping on ammunition belts and looking to their rifles and
revolvers.

"There are too many doors and windows to this cabin. We can't hold it
against them. We'll take the trail from the back door that leads up to
the old spring. From up there we'll keep an eye on them," said Dick.

"I see 'em coming," cried the older man softly from the front window.
"They ain't on the trail, but slipping up through the rocks.
One--two--three--four--Lord, there's no end to the beggars! They're on
foot now. Left their hawsses, I expect, down by the river."

Quietly the two men stepped from the back door of the cabin and swiftly
ascended the little trail that rose at a sharp acclivity to the spring.
At some height above the cabin, they crouched behind boulders and
watched the cautious approach of the enemy.

"Not taking any chances, are they?" murmured Gordon.

Steve laughed softly.

"Heard about that chicken-killing affair, mebbe, and none of them
anxious to add a goose to the exhibit."

"It would be right easy to give that surprise party a first-class
surprise," chuckled Dick. "Shall I drop a pill or two down among them,
just to let them know we're on the premises?"

"Now, don't you, Dick. We'll have to put half of 'em out of b