down to the last sage brush," declared
the foreman. "But we will put a crimp in Megget's plans that he
will not forget. My men are asleep by the fire, so there is no use
waking them till we've decided what to do."

"Then we must get down to business," returned his master. "I told
the boys to ride up unless we returned in half an hour."

A moment there was silence, as though each were waiting for the
other to make some suggestion as to the best course to pursue, and
then Mr. Wilder said:

"So long as we know the headquarters are in the Lost Lode Mine, it
seems to me we had better strike for it direct. Nails told me you
knew some trail." And he looked at Pete.

"I know trails enough, but which is the one that leads to the Lost
Lode, I can't say. That's just the trouble. It would take a month
of Sundays to ride them all down. While we were driving the cattle
up here, I was trying to figure out which trail to take in case
Nails found the mine was the place."

"You have tried some of the trails, haven't you, Pete?" inquired
the owner of the Three Stars.

"Sure. There are six I know that don't lead to the mine. That
leaves three between the pool and the Long Creek bottoms, and it
may be any one of them."

"Why do you think so?" asked his master.

"Because I know the right trail is between the pool and the
bottoms."

Again the men lapsed into silence, which Mr. Snider broke by
inquiring:

"What was it that young Alden mentioned about men crossing the
dirt?"

"That's so. I'd forgotten it again," and quickly Mr. Wilder
narrated the incident to his foreman.

"Probably that was Megget," asserted Pete. "But that doesn't help
us much. We don't know where that trail breaks on the plains.
Besides, while we practically know the headquarters are near the
old mine, we don't know they are driving the cattle there. They
may be heading straight for Don Vasquez's ranch.

"The plan that I kind of made up was to follow the trail from the
bottoms till we were sure which way the raiders were headed. If
it's for the mine, we can ride back along the plains and try out my
three trails."

"But why not follow the cattle?" interrupted Mr. Wilder.

"Because I'd rather head them off than creep up on them. The
raiders will be expecting us from behind. By riding on the prairie
we can cover ten miles to their one, which will give us time to try
out the three trails, and, when we find the right one, we can get
in ahe