tter Whitey and
Injun would have to do. By this time Slim was busily rubbing some horse
liniment on his arms and legs.

"Injun and I will see what's to be done. You might as well go to sleep,"
Whitey said to him.

"Sleep! Ah couldn't sleep in Mistah Vanderbilt's bed."

"Well, stay awake, then," said Whitey, as he left the bunk house,
followed by Injun.

In spite of Injun's belief that the men had not been in the ranch house,
the boys took a look around, but nothing had been disturbed. Then, as
they dressed, they talked things over. Whitey was not sorry that Bill
Jordan was away. While not one to think ill of people, Whitey always had
believed that String and Ham were queer, and the affairs of the night
seemed to point to the truth of this. If Whitey could learn what sort of
mischief the men were up to, it would be a feather in his cap, and it
would give him great satisfaction to say "I told you so" to Bill, who
always was so sure of himself. And if he and Injun could prevent the
others from committing that same mischief, the boys would be something
like heroes.

As Whitey and Injun talked the matter over, Whitey reviewed what took
place the night he overheard the whispered conversation in the bunk
house.

"They talked about the mine," he said to Injun, "and about meeting on a
certain date. What day of the month is it?" he asked.

By a miracle Injun happened to know the date, for John Big Moose had
told him the day in September on which the ore was to be shipped, so
Injun answered briefly, "Him thirty."

"That was the date!" cried Whitey. "They said the thirtieth of
September." Other scraps of the men's whispered talk began to come to
Whitey's mind, and to have meaning. "They were to meet on that date, and
they did. That's what String Beans was loafing around here for,
pretending to be lame. And they rode south. Don't you see?"

"Don't see nothin'," Injun answered.

"Why," Whitey declared, jumping to his feet, "they've gone toward the
railroad; toward the water tank, where all the trains stop. I believe
they're going to hold up the gold shipment. Come on, Injun, let's get
busy."

CHAPTER IV

SOLUTION

The moon was well down toward the western edge of the prairie when the
boys rode away from the bunk house. They rode toward the south, in
pursuit of the bandits, as they now called Whiff, String, and Ham.
Whitey and Injun had settled on this course shortly after Whitey had
decided that the men wer