which
you can see your young friend again is to hand us the money, give a
pledge not to ask any questions or try to punish Motoza or me----"

The jaw of the man suddenly dropped and he ceased speaking, for at that
moment he saw Jack Dudley and his limping companion walk out from the
cavern and smilingly approach.

The whole truth flashed upon him. He was outwitted as he had never been
outwitted before in all his life. Without speaking a syllable, he
wheeled around and started at a rapid stride across the plateau toward
the point where he had first appeared, with feelings which it is
impossible to imagine.

And didn't Hank Hazletine "give him the laugh?" He bent over with mirth,
staggering backward until he had to place his hand against the side of
the cavern to save himself from falling. It really seemed as if his
uproarious mirth must have penetrated a mile in every direction, and it
did not cease until some minutes after the discomfited victim had
disappeared. Jack and Fred laughed, too, until their sides ached; and
who shall deny that there was not full cause for their merriment?

An hour later, the ponies, saddled and bridled, were threading their way
out of the foot-hills for the ranch, which was reached without further
incident. There the boys remained several days until Fred had recovered
to a large extent from his hurts, when they rode to the station at Fort
Steele, where they shook hands with the honest Hank Hazletine and bade
him good-by.

And thus it came about that on the first Monday in the following
November Jack Dudley and Fred Greenwood were in their respective seats
at school, as eager and ambitious to press their studies as they had
been to visit Bowman's ranch, in Southwestern Wyoming, in which ranch,
by the way, they advised Mr. Dudley to retain his half-ownership.

"It's worth all it cost you, father," said Jack, "and perhaps one of
these days you will want the V. W. W. to go out and take another look at
it."

"Perhaps," was the dubious reply of the parent.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Boys in Wyoming, by Edward S. Ellis

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO BOYS IN WYOMING ***

***** This file should be named 20223.txt or 20223.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.net/2/0/2/2/20223/

Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from im