t press
the point. But spend all the time you can with us. The place is yours.
Make yourselves at home."

"No; Mr. Stallings would not like it if we were to remain away over
night. You see, he expects us to do our share of night guard duty,"
explained Tad. "We are earning our keep as it were."

The boys laughed.

"That is, some of us are," corrected Ned, with a sly glance at Stacy,
who was eating industriously. "Others are eating for their keep."

The Pony Rider Boys caught the hidden meaning in his words, but they
tried not to let their hosts observe that it was a joke at the expense
of one of them.

"Stallings," murmured Miss Brayton, her eyes staring vacantly at Tad
Butler.

Tad flushed at the memory of what he had heard on his first visit to the
ranch.

Miss Brayton excused herself rather abruptly and left the room. They did
not see her again that evening.

"My niece has been ailing of late," explained Mrs. McClure.

"Perhaps she had better not try to accompany us to-morrow, then,"
suggested Tad.

"Oh, yes, I wish her to. It will do her good--it will take her mind from
herself."

Tad Butler noted the last half of the sentence particularly. For him it
held a deeper meaning than it did for his companions.

"I wonder if she knows Mr. Stallings," mused Tad. "I'm going to find
out. No, I won't. It's none of my business. Still, it will do no harm to
ask him, or to mention the name to him. That surely would not be wrong."

Under the charm of the evening his mind soon drifted into other
channels. After supper games were brought out and a happy evening
followed.

Ten o'clock came, and Professor Zepplin, glancing at his watch, was
about to propose a return to camp, when one of Colonel McClure's cowboys
appeared in the doorway, hat in hand.

"Beg pardon; may I speak with you a moment?" asked the man.

"Certainly," replied the colonel, with the same gracious manner, Tad
observed, that he used toward his guests. "Excuse me a moment."

After a little their host returned, but rather hurriedly, it seemed, and
Tad's keen eyes noticed that he seemed disturbed.

Mr. McClure caught the lad's inquiring gaze fixed upon him. He nodded.

"Is anything wrong?" asked the rancher's wife.

"Yes; I am afraid there is," he answered quietly.

"What is it?"

"I am not sure. Perhaps I should not alarm you young gentlemen, but I
think you should know."

"At the camp, you mean?" asked Tad.

"Yes."

"What's that?" dem