wrong in asking you
for assistance."

"Oh, you've come to the right shop for help," George cut in. "You'll
find that we'll help you while you're in the hills, and continue to help
you after you get out of the hills. You're a Beaver, you know."

It was on Will's lips to tell the boy exactly why they were there, and
how glad they were that he had come to them in his trouble, but he
refrained from doing so.

After half an hour's walk they came to the place where the gulch opened
into a small valley.

"I think," Chester said, as they stepped into one of these openings,
"that father may be hiding somewhere in this vicinity."

"Do you think so," asked Will, "because of that light in there?"

"I didn't see any light when I spoke," replied the boy, "but I see the
reflection of a fire now. It must be some distance from this opening."

The boys moved forward softly until they came near a campfire which was
in a passage connecting the cave they were in with one to the north.
When they came close enough they saw three figures sitting before the
fire. Chester clutched Will fiercely by the arm and declared that one of
the men was his father. He was for rushing forward immediately, but the
boys held him back.

"If the other fellows are the detectives," George suggested to Will,
"it's all up with us, unless we can get him away."

"But they are not the detectives," replied Will.

"Those fellows are the men who are wanted for the Union Pacific train
robbery!"

While the boys were advancing the three men at the fire disappeared as
if by magic! The next moment the circle of light showed the figures of
half a dozen cowboys darting hither and thither in search of the men who
had taken themselves off so suddenly.

Believing that the cowboys might be induced to assist in the search for
the missing man, the boys advanced toward the fire. As they did so the
cowboys swarmed down upon them. Before they could utter a word of
protest they were securely bound with ropes and dragged to the opening.

"We didn't get the robbers," the man who seemed to be leader of the
party said, "but we can amuse ourselves lynching these spies!"

CHAPTER VIII

A MIDNIGHT BEAR HUNT

"I have heard," Tommy said with a wink, soon after the departure of the
boys, "that the best time to get a grizzly bear rug for a Boy Scout club
room in Chicago is at moonrise."

"I think I've heard something like that, too," Sandy answered, with a
grin. "That i