s sleeping soundly, and in the
middle of the forenoon they rolled into the great station at Chicago.
Here the lads kept their eyes wide open and saw Haddon and his two
companions walk away, dresssuit-cases in hand. Nor did they reappear when
the Rovers, an hour later, hurried for the train which was to take them
further westward. Evidently the three men were going to take some other
train to Montana.

"Here they are! We've been waiting for you folks!" came the cry, and
Spouter rushed up to the Rovers, followed by Gif.

"Ho for the glorious West!" put in Gif. "Aren't you fellows anxious to
get there?" he questioned.

"Anxious doesn't express it!" answered Andy. "Why, all night long I was
riding broncos and lassoing wild cattle!" and he grinned.

Sleeping-car accommodations had been reserved for all of the crowd, and
they were soon making themselves at home. Then, as the train sped
westward, the Rovers told their chums about Bud Haddon.

"That certainly is interesting," said Gif. "Just the same, I can't think
that Brassy Bangs is a thief. Why, if you'll remember, he said he had
been robbed himself!"

"He might have said that just to throw dust in the eyes of the public,"
answered Spouter. "To my mind it will certainly be a good thing to keep
our eyes open for this fellow Haddon."

The trip to Montana took the best part of three days, and every one in
the party enjoyed the journey thoroughly. They often went out to the
observation end of the train, there to view the endless panorama of
prairies and mountains, forests and streams, as they sped swiftly past.
The magnificent view impressed Spouter as much as anybody.

"It's sublime--stupendously sublime," he murmured over and over again.
"The thoughts that well up in my bosom at such a sight as this are beyond
the power of words to express. When I view these immense plains, these
mountain tops fading away in the distance, these wild and weird torrents
rushing over the rocks, and these trackless forests with often not a
human abode in sight, I cannot but think----"

"That there is room here for every man, woman and child in the city of
New York and then some," finished Andy. "Gee, how can they stick in one
or two miserable cubby-holes of rooms when we have all this land to draw
on!"

"That's what gets me," put in Gif. "But they do it. And I'm told that a
whole lot of 'em would rather die huddled together than live out here
where neighbors are miles apart."

The t