t, boys. We'll go right on through the pass, and when we come
back we'll make an investigation."

The girls also saw the three little stones, but when they found that
Wild did not seem to want to make much of them just then they rode on,
with only a passing comment.

They reached the other end of the pass without meeting a human being or
seeing anything that would indicate the presence of any.

Then they dismounted and took a look at the sign that was posted there.

It was so nearly like the other that if the two had been side by side
the difference could not have been told.

This one was nailed to a big tree, and after he had looked it over Wild
decided to take it down and see if there was anything on the other side
of it.

He used the butt of a revolver in place of a hammer and soon knocked the
barrel-head loose from the tree.

Then it was quickly pried off.

Much to his satisfaction, he saw that there was some lettering on the
back of the sign.

But it was done in black, and the letters were daubed on in a careless
way, such as a shipping house clerk does it.

Young Wild West's face lighted up with a smile as he read the following:

"Cap Roche,"
"General Store,"
"Silver Bend, Nev."

"What do you think of that?" he asked, holding the barrel-head so his
companions could read it. "I reckon we know where the material to make
the sign came from now."

"Great gimlets!" exclaimed Cheyenne Charlie. "If you hadn't seen Roche
go inter ther cave last night you would know now that he was connected
with ther outlaws. This is what I calls great!"

"Well, I'll just put the sign up again," said our hero, after a moment
of thought. "But I'll put it so the back part can be read. It may make
Cap Roche wonder a little, and if anybody else, not connected with his
gang, sees it they may do a little studying and wondering."

He soon knocked the nails out, and then he lost no time in nailing the
sign to the tree in the manner he had proposed to do.

"There you are!" he said. "You can't see the words as plainly as you
could the others; but I reckon they can be read all right, if one takes
the trouble to get up a little close to the tree."

"I reckon if any one comes this way they'll notice it quick enough," the
scout declared.

As they intended to go no further, they simply took a look at the trail
that came around the mountain at that point and then continued on toward
the southwest.

"There's the way t