mind. One was that the vault door had been
open when he came in, and that Wiley Creviss had abruptly closed it when
he saw Ted staring at it. The other was the remarkable appearance of the
showman, for without doubt he was that.

As before, the mysterious robbery of the bank proved to be too hard a
nut for the citizens to crack, and when they had thrashed out all the
theories advanced and knocked them to pieces again, they forgot it.

Not so Ted Strong. This succession of robberies, none of them leaving
behind the slightest clew to the perpetrators, interested him. Its very
difficulty of solution, which had made the lesser brains abandon it,
compelled his attention and interest.

Had it been his business to tackle the problem, he gladly would have
done so. But the only Federal end to it was the robbery of the post
office, which the inspectors of that department were working on, unless,
perhaps, it might be found that the funds of the government for general
purposes at Fort Rincon had been stolen. Then the case would come under
the operations of the United States marshal's office.

But other and more pressing things of a personal nature gradually took
his attention from crime, and he devoted himself to the coming round-up.

All the spare room in the Moon Valley Ranch house was occupied by
visiting cattle buyers, who had come to the round-up. The rooms of the
boys had been given up to guests, while they camped on the prairie
behind the house.

At last the great day came.

Early in the morning the boys were out, and with them was Stella.

Cow Suggs had loaned Ted his outfit for the day, and Ted was glad to
have the boys, for there was no cleverer cowman in the country at a
round-up, saving Ted himself, who was king of them all, and so conceded,
than the dark, lithe cow-puncher, Billy Sudden, who had been through
college and had traveled in Europe before he deserted the East for the
toil, freedom, and excitement of the range.

It was now time to round up all the stock on the Moon Valley Range, cut
out the marketable stuff, and brand the yearlings.

This is not only a troublesome task, but it is dangerous, and not a
moment of the time until the task is accomplished but has its exciting
adventures and escapes from death.

The boys did not know exactly how many head of cattle they owned. They
had been selling and replenishing their stock from time to time, and the
increase of calves had been very large, for Moon Va