ights.' An' mos' generally they come."

"How about the other two men?" asked Glen.

"Mebbe they're there; mebbe they ain't. It was putty clever of 'em to
hide right around here, knowing they was looked for all over the
country."

"Don't you suppose they're staying here so as to look for that stuff in
the cave?"

"We don't take much stock in that story," said the deputy. "We don't
know that they is any cave. What they was after wasn't in no river bank,
it was in the bank of Buffalo Center."

He appreciated his little joke and chuckled over it very heartily. His
merriment, however, did not prevent him from being the first one to see
a little group coming down the main road.

"Three of 'em!" he said. "One of 'em's from your camp. Who's the other
two?"

"The scout is Matt Burton," said Glen. "The other two must be the
engineers that he found camping down here. Say, I'll tell you something.
They aren't engineers. What's the matter with them being the other two
of Jervice's gang?"

"Nothing the matter at all," said the deputy. "Lay low now, and we'll
get 'em. They're looking awful suspicious like at our tracks in the
road. They don't understand 'em. If they break an' run you stay here
with the horses an' I'll give 'em a chase."

"They've grabbed hold of Matt as if they were going to work some rough
house play with him," said Glen. "Look what they're doing."

"They think he's sold 'em out," said the deputy. "They got a notion that
he's leading 'em into something."

Just then Matt, who was not deficient in courage, made a lunge at one of
the men, broke loose and started to run. He was overtaken in a minute by
the other man who hit him such a blow as to stretch him full length in
the dust of the road.

"Hold on there, hold on," the deputy counseled Glen. "You can't do
anything chasin' after 'em. Just let 'em stay here till the sheriff gets
back an' he'll pick 'em up easy. Now, take a holt o' this gun. You
needn't shoot it, but it'll look better if you have one. I'm goin' to
sneak up a piece and get back of 'em. I'll take this rope along an'
mebbe I can git it over one of 'em. I won't be far behind 'em any time.
You stay here with the hosses an' if they seem like to pass along
without noticing don't you so much as cheep. All you got to do is mind
the hosses."

When the two men, with Matt between them, reached the turn of the road
and saw that the tracks led directly to the camp they came to a dead
halt. Glen cou