kodak on the party, only his good sense
told him they would look like specks at such a great distance, and
there would be no satisfaction in the picture.

"How d'ye expect they ever found that Aleck was no longer on the
ledge?" asked Step Hen.

"Perhaps they may have been in camp somewhere, that gave them a view
of the ledge, and looking in vain for Aleck, they hurried up to see
whether he had fallen, or was climbing up someway or other," Allan
suggested.

"And the chances are, they'll want to drop in here, now that they
know he's taken up with us?" said Giraffe.

Step Hen looked anxious.

"Say, Thad, is that agoin' to interfere with our startin' out on our
little excursion?" he demanded.

The scoutmaster knew what was in his mind. He smiled as he replied:

"Oh! I don't see why it should, Step Hen. Fact is, the time's up now;
and as I've said all I want to about taking care of yourselves, why
you might as well make a start. There'll be enough of us left behind
to take care of Colonel Kracker and his friends, if so be they do
chance to call on us."

"Bring us back some nice juicy mutton, Step Hen!" called Giraffe.

"And Davy, be sure you snap 'em off in the air; we ain't from
Missouri, but we like to be shown," added Bumpus.

"I say, Smithy, the country expects every man to do his duty, suh; and
if you get your chance, I give you my word, suh, that little gun can
be depended on every single time!" shouted the Southerner, Bob White.

And so, followed by the good wishes of their chums, the little party
of big-horn hunters started forth, none knowing what strange events
might be waiting for them among the wild uplifts of the Rockies.

CHAPTER X.

THE COMING OF KRACKER.

"They're sure comin', Thad!"

The scoutmaster looked up when Giraffe said this.

"Oh! you must mean that big cannon Kracker, and his two friends?" he
remarked, in such a cool tone that Giraffe fairly gasped for breath.

"That's them!" he declared, with an utter disregard for grammar that
would have caused him to lose some of his good points in school had
the lapse occurred there. "And my stars! they look ugly enough to eat
us all up, without caring for bones!"

"But I calculate they won't, all the same," replied the other, smiling
with supreme confidence. "Did Allan send you in to tell me?" he
continued, for he had delegated the second in command to keep watch
and ward when he was busy in his tent doing something.

Giraffe n