tration: "LOOK OUT, HERE COMES JEEMS ON THE WARPATH."--P. 165.]

CHAPTER XIX

THE CAMP IN THE VALLEY

The dust settled and they were able to see Jeems in all his outlines.
He seemed unhurt and in the possession of all his faculties, for he
began to spout poetry to the boys after this wise:

"From morn till noon he fell, from noon
Till dewy eve then like a falling star
Dropt from the zenith."

"Hurrah for Lucifer!" cried Jo, who knew something about literature.
Jeems bowed.

"What did you think you were, a flying squirrel?" inquired Tom.

"I didn't think, I just flew," said Jeems, which was true.

This incident likewise came near getting their enemy who was in
hiding, for when he saw Jeems Howell perform his startling evolution
in the air, he laughed so hard that he lost his balance and came
crashing through the branches to the ground below and he lay there
rolling over and over, not in the agony of a broken leg, but with
uncontrollable laughter. As he told his pals later, "I never seen the
likes of that performance. It was head and heels over any circus that
'Green Ike' ever saw back in ole Missoury. (Green Ike so-called, not
on account of the color of his skin, but of his eyes.) That fellar
must have struck a spring board the way he went through the air."

After the excitement had quieted down over Jeems Howell's flight
through space, the boys took up the next order of the day, which was
"forward march to their camping place for the night." It was now well
along in the afternoon and the shadows were extending far down the
slopes and across the valleys.

"We must get to a place where there is good water," said Juarez, as
they started on their way.

"I wish we could find some grazing for the horses," mused Jim.

"It's a long pull into that valley down there," remarked Jo, "but I
guess we can make it."

"I don't see why not," said Tom. "Our horses have had a long rest and
ought to make fine time."

They did succeed in finding an excellent camping place after riding
down the mountain slopes for about five miles. They came into quite a
broad valley with a beautiful stream of clear tumbling water flowing
through the midst of it, and green meadows on either side.

"I bet that's a fine trout stream," exclaimed Tom enthusiastically.

"This is one of the best places that we ever had to camp in," cried
Jo. "The only place I can remember that beat it was in Mexico near
the trembling moun