assed the time as best they could until the hour
for the departure of the cowboy arrived. Then Tad was left alone once
more. He circled about the church, listening. Once he thought he heard
the hoof-beats of a pony. But the sound died away instantly, and he
believed he must have been wrong.

After half an hour Big-foot returned. The foreman had decided, so long
as the cattle were quiet, to have him remain with Tad. If the cowboy
should be needed in a hurry the foreman was to fire a shot in the air as
a signal.

Tad was intensely pleased at this arrangement. After chatting a while
they lay down on the ground, speaking only occasionally, and then in low
tones. The mystery of the night seemed to have awed them into silent
thought. They had lain there for some time, when Tad suddenly rose on
one elbow.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"Yes," breathed the cowman.

"What--what do you think it was?"

"Sounded as if some one had jumped to the ground. We'd better crawl up
there. It was by the church. I told you it was coming."

"Do you suppose it was Chunky?"

"No. He'd be afraid of the dark. You'd hear him yelling for help."

Tad had his doubts of that; but, just the same, he, too, felt that the
noise they had heard had not been made by Stacy Brown. A silence of
several minutes followed. The two had crawled only a few feet toward the
church, when, with one common impulse, they flattened themselves on the
ground and listened.

Now they could distinctly hear some one cautiously moving about in front
of the church. It seemed to Tad as if the mysterious intruder were
standing on the broad stone flagging at the top of the steps leading
into the adobe church.

Tad slowly rose to his feet.

"Who's there?" he cried in a voice that trembled a little.

A sudden commotion followed the question, and the listeners distinctly
caught the sound of footsteps on the flagging.

A flash lighted the scene momentarily.

Big-foot had fired a shot toward the church. A slight scream followed
almost instantly.

"I winged it!" shouted the cowman, lifting his weapon for another shot.

Tad struck the gun up. The lad was excited now.

"Stop!" he commanded. "Don't do that again. Do you want to kill
somebody?"

With that Tad ran, his feet fairly flying over the ground, in the
direction of the church steps. In the flash of the gun he had caught a
glimpse of a figure standing there. The sight thrilled him through and
through.

As