down the trail. The
approaching party was much nearer now and he could count the
individuals.

"Five!" he exclaimed. "Looks like they might give the boys trouble.
That fellar in front has sartain got a fine horse."

Already the voices of the five came clearly to his ears, and it would
not be long before they would top the ridge, and the scout, for such
he was, would be discovered.

"It's time for me to scat!" he exclaimed.

And he did, taking long swinging strides that soon took him out of
sight of the ridge, into a belt of pines. Here the stranger stopped
again and watched for the tenderfoot party to put in an appearance. He
did not have long to wait, for there came the strong clear sound of
voices, and then he saw a gallant figure on a gray horse ride into
full view. This young fellow was dressed in blue, with a flannel shirt
of the same color, and a gray sombrero, which was pushed back from his
sunburnt forehead.

A perfectly polished rifle was hung across his back, and there was a
revolver in the holster at his hip. The young fellow rode his
splendid animal with an ease and mastery that showed long experience.
Behind the leader rode a shorter lad, but very stockily built, and of
extremely dark complexion, with heavy black hair, cut square across.

"That chap must be an Injun," remarked the watcher in the pines.

But the reader who is more intelligent and better informed, knows
otherwise, for he is acquainted with these riders and has been in
their company before, and it is not necessary to pass the entire
procession in review. The Frontier Boys were all there, and Jeems
Howell likewise. The man in the pines was deeply interested in these
mounted men, viewing them from his position back of a big pine, in
front of which was a screen of brush.

He saw that they were well mounted and armed, nor did they appear
entirely like tenderfeet either. There was something in the way they
rode and their general air that showed that they could take care of
themselves. Once or twice he partially raised his rifle as though
about to fire at the leader, but he evidently thought better of it,
and contented himself with a mere reconnoissance.

The Frontier Boys were unmindful that they were watched, but they
were not careless. Juarez, especially, seemed on the alert, and
even suspicious. He kept looking around and once he came to a halt.
Swinging off his roan, he began to examine the ground.

"Scent something, comrade?" inq