mean the one he won't talk about," said Chester with a smile. "All
right. Go ahead. I'll take a little snooze."

He rolled over on his side as Hal left the tent.

How long Chester slept he did not know, but it was dark in the tent when
he opened his eyes.

"Wonder what can be keeping Hal?" he muttered to himself.

He had hardly had spoken the words when a form came through the entrance
to the tent. Chester was about to speak, for he thought at first that it
was Hal, but something seemed to tell him to remain silent. The lad,
therefore, said nothing.

At second glance Chester realized that the figure that had entered the
tent was not Hal. Neither was it Stubbs.

"Great Scott!" muttered the lad to himself. "Wonder who he is and
what he wants here? He hasn't seen me though. Guess I'll wait and see
what happens."

The lad stretched out a hand carefully and drew toward him a camp stool
upon which he had laid his clothes before going to bed. Without a sound
he secured one of his revolvers and straightened to a sitting posture.

"I'm ready for whatever happens," he told himself.

The intruder had now taken up such a position in the tent as to command a
view of the entrance, shielded from sight himself. Chester saw something
glisten in the man's hand.

"Gun," said the boy to himself. "Guess I can beat him to it."

Came footsteps without. They stopped just outside the tent. Chester
saw the nocturnal visitor in the tent raise his revolver arm. Chester
did likewise.

"I'll just shoot that gun out of your hand, my friend," he said quietly.

He took deliberate aim.

CHAPTER VIII

AN UNKNOWN ENEMY

The footsteps outside came nearer the entrance. Chester's finger
tightened on the trigger of his revolver, as he saw the stranger in the
tent draw himself taut.

At that moment Hal's figure appeared in the entrance.

There were two sharp cracks, so close that they seemed as one, and two
spurts of flame in the darkness. Came a cry of pain from the stranger in
the tent and Hal dashed forward.

"Quick, Hal! Grab him!" shouted Chester.

But quick as he was, Hal was not quick enough. With a snarl the man
jumped toward Hal even as Hal leaped himself. The stranger was of much
greater bulk than Hal and the lad was hurled to the ground. When he
regained his feet the stranger had disappeared.

Chester, unmindful of his wound, had leaped from his cot and now ran
outside. Some distance away he saw a figure disappear