ey were heavily accoutred. They rode fast, too, and at their
head galloped a large man under a wide-brimmed felt hat. It soon became
evident that the soldiers were not uniformed. Therefore, Dave reasoned,
they were not Federals, but more probably some Rebel scouting band from
the south, and yet--He rubbed his eyes and stared again.

Dave pressed forward eagerly, incredulously; the next instant he had
broken cover with a shout. Alaire was at his side, clapping her hands
and laughing with excitement.

The cavalcade halted; the big man tumbled from his saddle and came
straddling through the high grass, waving his hat and yelling.

"Blaze! You old scoundrel!" Dave cried, and seized one of the
ranchman's palms while Alaire shook the other.

"Say! We're right glad to see you-all," Jones exclaimed. "We reckoned
you might be havin' a sort of unpleasantness with Longorio, so we
organized up and came to get you."

The other horsemen were crowding close now, and their greetings were
noisy. There were the two Guzman boys, Benito Gonzales, Phil Strange,
and a number of Jonesville's younger and more adventurous citizens.

In the midst of the tumult Benito inquired for his wife, and Dave
relieved his anxiety by calling Dolores and Father O'Malley. Then, in
answer to the questions showered upon him, he swiftly sketched the
story of Alaire's rescue and their flight from La Feria.

When he had finished Blaze Jones drew a deep breath. "We're mighty glad
you got out safe, but you've kicked the legs from under one of my pet
ambitions. I sure had planned to nail Longorio's hide on my barn door.
Yes, and you've taken the bread out of the mouths of the space writers
and sob sisters from here to Hudson's Bay. Miz Austin, your picture's
in every newspaper in the country, and, believe me, it's the worst
atrocity of the war."

"War!" Father O'Malley had joined the group now, and he asked, "Has war
been declared?"

"Not yet, but we've got hopes." To Alaire Blaze explained: "Ellsworth's
in Washington, wavin' the Stars and Stripes and singin' battle hymns,
but I reckon the government figures that the original of those
newspaper pictures would be safe anywhere. Well, we've got our own
ideas in Jonesville, so some of us assembled ourselves and declared war
on our own hook. These gentlemen"--Blaze waved his hand proudly at his
neighbors--"constitute the Jonesville Guards, the finest body of
American men that has invaded Mexican soil since me a