might lose his head, and get us all into a fight,
if we let him go armed."

Willingly the Crow boy did as he was told. The search revealed a big
revolver that was apparently the mate of the one Thad had knocked from
the hand of Kracker.

"Now get that other fellow's rifle, Allan," continued the patrol
leader, who had mapped out his plan of campaign quickly.

He did not trust these men further than he could see them. They were
quite unscrupulous; and after having been held up to scorn by this
parcel of boys, there was every reason in the world to believe that
they would plan a hasty revenge. And the fewer deadly weapons they had
in their possession the better the chances would be for peace in that
mountain valley.

The rifle in particular Thad wanted to hold back. With it, damage
might be done at a much greater distance than with the smaller arms.
And knowing that the boys had long distance modern rifles, possibly
Kracker and his followers might keep out of range.

Besides, there was that business of Aleck's concerning the hidden
mine; they had promised to stand back of him until he had secured full
possession; and that was apt to keep them in the neighborhood for some
time, always subjected to annoyance from these anxious ones, who
longed to secure the prize that had tantalized their species for so
long.

So the rifle, and what ammunition Dickey Bird happened to be carrying
in a belt slung over his shoulder, fell into the hands of the boys.
They also retained possession of one of the heavy revolvers; not that
any one fancied the clumsy weapon in the least; but as Thad said, "to
cut the wings of the party as much as possible."

"Let Waffles get up, now, Fox," said Thad, when all these matters had
been adjusted, much to the admiration of the other scouts, who thought
their leader must be just "IT" when it came to doing things.

The shorter rascal was not slow to gain his feet. He was still boiling
over with a sense of insult added to injury, and ready to vent his
wrath in offensive words; but Thad cut all this short.

"Listen to me, Waffles," he said, sternly again; "We don't care to
hear your opinion of anything. Take a lesson from the colonel here,
who knows when silence is golden. You don't hear him swearing around,
and threatening to break a blood-vessel in his mad feeling. He's
taking it all as cool as a cucumber. He knows when it's a time to
laugh, and when it's a time to cry. Now, the sooner you gentleme