ended the career of the fourth outlaw.

The Chinaman did not know what it meant, so he looked for a way to get
up close to Jim and the girls without being seen by them.

If he went on through the narrow defile he could not do it.

Then he looked up and, much to his satisfaction, he saw a place that
could be climbed quite easily, he thought.

He decided to go on up, and then work his way along until he was
directly above those in waiting.

Hop was quite agile for a Chinaman who did not like work a great deal.

He was soon ascending the craggy way, and in less than two minutes he
was at the top of the cliff.

Once there he found that it was comparatively level, and he walked along
fearlessly.

But he could not help noticing that there was a fissure similar to that
which formed the pass on the other side, and, being curious to see what
was down there, he made his way to the edge.

A smothered cry of astonishment came from the Chinaman's lips as he
peered downward.

It was the "hole," as the outlaws termed it, that Hop was looking into,
and there was Young Wild West, tied to the post, in plain view!

"Lat petty goodie--or petty bids, so be!" exclaimed Hop, under his
breath, "Me finder Misler Wild petty quicken. But um bad Mexican mans
goatee him, so be."

Keeping out of sight, he lay flat at the top of the cliff and saw the
excited outlaws as they moved about in the hole below him.

The distance was about forty feet, but Hop soon discovered a way to get
down, or nearly all the distance, anyhow.

But he did not intend to risk doing it just then.

The excited voices of the men came to his ears, and he was not long in
making out that they were talking about a man that had just been shot as
he went out to get the body of a comrade.

From his position he could see about all there was to be seen in the
fissure.

There was the grave the villains had placed the two bodies in, and which
they had started to fill.

He counted ten men there, too, and he shook his head when he found there
were so many of them.

"Misler Wild allee samee in um bad box, so be," he muttered. "Me better
go tell Misler Jim, so be."

Having decided upon this plan of action, he crawled away from the edge
of the cliff and made his way down into the pass.

It was easier to get down than it was to come up, and once there he
started boldly for Jim and the girls.

He was within twenty feet of them when Arietta turned and saw him.

"Her