odle on a Pony Express rider. He'd find it a heap more profitable to
do the robbery right here where all my valuables are. Besides, Nick is
too slick a hand with the pistol to have any truck with an Injun's bow
and arrows. No, Rube, my boy, your idea isn't worth a whole lot, come
to analyze it. Even if I suspected Nick Undrell of shooting that
arrow, the fact remains that when I started on that ride I left him in
Fort Laramie, that he had no relays of ponies, as I had, waiting ready
along the trail, and that he couldn't anyhow have got to Medicine Creek
in front of me. It wasn't humanly possible. Any other solution ter
suggest, Rube?"

Rube shook his head decisively.

"No," he answered. "I'm just more puzzled than ever. Can't straighten
it out nohow. Can't think who it could be, or why he did it. Thar's
only one thing t' be said, Kiddie, an' that's this: the man as tried
ter take your life was either a Injun wearin' white man's boots, or
else a white man usin' a Injun's bow an' arrow. Beyond that, I'm
makin' up my mind ter look out fer a individual--red or white--goin'
around with his left arm in a sling."

"Don't hold too tight t' th' idea that it was in the arm he was
bitten--" Kiddie cautioned. "Sheila might have seized on any other
part of his anatomy. My own notion is that the hound herself will spot
him sooner'n you or I could do."

"Thar's a lot in that notion," Rube acknowledged. "Guess I'll keep my
eye on the hound all the time. An' when I sees her bristles rise an'
her teeth showin' an' hears a growl rumblin' up from her throat, I
shall sure know that the skunk ain't a far way off."

CHAPTER VII

RUBE CARTER'S VISITOR

"Hullo!"

Rube Carter was studying the architect's plan of Kiddie's woodland
cabin. The portable sections of the building were all precisely
numbered; but they were nevertheless perplexing, and he wanted, above
all things, to avoid mistakes.

Usually when in doubt he could apply for an explanation to Kiddie
himself, but on this particular day Kiddie was absent on duty with the
Pony Express, and Rube had to puzzle out the difficulty unhelped. He
had one of the elevation plans spread out in front of him on the
working bench, and was trying to ascertain the exact position of a
window casement, when a moving shadow crossed the sheet of paper.

He had not heard any one approaching. The only sounds he had been
conscious of were the mumbling of his pet bear cub lyin