w; I left him at the hotel. He will come to some bad end,
and so will his father, for they are both rascals. The property of which
they have charge, and which brings in a big fortune every year,
rightfully belongs to George Ackerman, Ned's cousin; but Ned and his
father--"

"George Ackerman?" exclaimed Bob, starting up in his bunk.

Gus nodded his head, and looked at the recruit in great surprise.

"Is he a cub pilot?" continued the latter.

"'A cub pilot'?" repeated Gus. "No, he's a herdsman, or I ought rather
to say he _was_ a herdsman. He had stock of his own worth six thousand
dollars. Where he is now I don't know, for on the morning after we left
his ranche, while we were camped in the edge of the timber making up for
the sleep we had lost the night before, we were surprised by a couple of
Greasers, who made a prisoner of George and carried him across the river
into Mexico. I don't know what they did with him, for all George could
induce them to say was that 'Fletcher wanted to see him.'"

"It's the same fellow," exclaimed Bob, rising from his blanket and
seating himself on the edge of the bunk by his companion's side. "He
told me all about it, but his story was so very remarkable that I didn't
know whether to believe it or not. He gave those Greasers the slip,
secured a berth as cub pilot on a Mississippi River steamer, and that
was where I found him."

With this introduction Bob went on to tell how he had saved George from
going to the bottom when Uncle John Ackerman pushed him overboard from
the Sam Kendall; related all the thrilling incidents connected with the
burning of the steamer; described how Uncle John had tried to separate
them in New Orleans; in short, he gave a truthful account of his
intercourse with the cub pilot up to the time he deserted him in
Galveston. Bob was heartily ashamed of that now, and could not bear to
speak of it.

"I became separated from him in some way--it is very easy to lose a
companion in the crowded streets of a city, you know--and that was the
last I saw of him," said Bob in conclusion; and when he told this he
forgot that he had afterward seen George go into a hotel accompanied by
Mr. Gilbert. "Then I didn't know what to do. I had no money; I was
hungry and sleepy, utterly discouraged; and, like you, I sought to end
my troubles by enlisting. I see now that I made a great mistake, but I
am going to serve faithfully during my term of enlistment, if I live. Is
George's r