k," Andy rebelled
instantly. His hand went up to take the oath with the others.

There on the corner of the street where the shadows lay under a gently
whispering box-elder tree, Hank Miller faced the group that stood with
right hands uplifted and swore them as he had sworn--with the oath that
made deputy sheriffs of them all. He told them that while he did not
believe the thieves had gone to the reservation, and would look for them
elsewhere, the idea was worth acting upon--seeing they wanted to do it
anyway; and that the sheriff's office stood ready to assist them in
any way possible. He wished them luck and hurried away, evidently much
relieved to get away and out of an uncomfortable position.

In the next two hours Luck managed to accomplish a good deal, which
was one of the reasons why he was manager and director of the Flying
U Feature Films. Just for example, he went to a friend who was
also something of a detective, and put him on the job of find
Annie-Many-Ponies--a bigger task than it looked to Luck, as we have
occasion to know. He sent some of the boys back to the ranch in a
machine, and told them just what to bring back with them in the way
of rifles, bedding rolls, extra horses and so on. The horses they had
ridden into town he had housed in a livery stable. He took the Native
Son and a Mexican driver and went over to Atrisco, routed perfectly
polite and terribly sleepy individuals out of their beds and learned
beyond all question that a red automobile with several men in it had
passed through the dusty lanes and had labored up the hill to the desert
mesa beyond and that no one had seen it return.

He sent a hundred-and-fifty-word message to Dewitt of the Great Western
Company in Los Angeles, explaining with perfect frankness the situation
and his determination to get out after the robbers, and made it plain
also that he would not expect salary for the time he spent in the chase.
He ended by saying tersely, "My reputation and standing of company here
at stake," and signed his name in a hasty scrawl that made the operator
scratch his ear reflectively with his pencil when he had counted the
words down to the signature. After that, Luck gave every ounce of his
energy and every bit of his brain to the outfitting of the expedition.

So well did he accomplish the task that by one O'clock that night a
low-voiced company of men rode away from a livery stable in the heart of
the town, leading four pack-horses and