uss. "Wait a minute until I film
the start, fellows, and then I'll get on a horse and take my camera.
I'll go with you, and get the finish of this, too."

A new roll of film was quickly slipped into the camera and Russ dashed
on ahead to show the on-coming cowboys in their rush to overtake the
suspected men.

Then the young operator jumped into the saddle of a steed that was ready
and waiting for him, and galloped on with his friends to get, if
possible, the finish of the affair.

"Oh, isn't it just splendid!" cried Alice, clapping her hands.

"But it makes me so nervous!" protested Ruth.

"I just love to be nervous--this way," declared Alice, with a joyous
laugh.

Away flew the eager cowboys, and those left behind proceeded to let
their nerves quiet down after the strenuous times they had just passed
through. The cook had come up and he at once prepared a little meal.

On the other side of the wide creek the prairie fire burned itself out.
The blaze crept in the dry grass down to the very edge of the water,
where it went out with puffs of steam, and vicious hisses.

"Oh, but I'm glad we're not there," sighed Ruth as she looked across at
the smoke-palled and blackened stretch.

"Yes, it was a narrow escape," said her father.

"What happened after we left?" asked Alice.

"The fire really got a little too much for us," said Mr. Pertell. "And,
as I had pictures enough, we decided to leave. We let the cabin burn, as
we had arranged, and then came riding on.

"But the flames were a little too quick for us, and we had to turn off
to one side. That's why we didn't get up to you more quickly. We were
really quite worried about you."

CHAPTER XXV

THE ROUND-UP

"What's the matter?"

"Couldn't you catch them?"

"Did they get away?"

All needless questions, evidently, yet they were anxiously asked, for
all that, when the tired and disappointed cowboys, led by Baldy Johnson,
returned after the chase. It was dusk, and the prairie fire was almost
out. Only a faint glow showed where, here and there, a bunch of thick
grass was still blazing.

"They gave us the slip," complained Baldy in discouraged tones. "Their
horses were fresher than ours were. Probably they got out of the way of
the fire sooner than we did."

"Did you get close enough to recognize them?" Mr. Pertell wanted to
know.

"I didn't know any of 'em," asserted Baldy. "Not that I got any too
close," he added, grimly. "They sure can ride,