aved your head in with a rock and
saved myself the craziest ride I ever took in m' life!"

"Oh, shut up!" Bud snapped impatiently. "We're here, aren't we? Now
listen to me, boys. You catch up my horses--Jerry, are you coming along
with me? You may as well. I'm a deputy sheriff, and if anybody stops you
for whatever you've done, I'll show a warrant for your arrest. And by
thunder," he declared with a faint grin, "I'll serve it if I have to
to keep you with me. I don't know what you've done, and I don't care. I
want you. So catch up my horses--and Jerry, you can pack my war-bag and
roll your bed and mine, if I'm too busy while I'm here."

"You're liable to be busy, all right," Jerry interpolated grimly.

"Well, they won't bother you. Ed, you better get the horses. Take
Sunfish, here, and graze him somewhere outa sight. We'll keep going, and
we might have to start suddenly."

"How about Sis? I thought--"

"I'm going to turn Little Lost upside down to find her, if she's here.
If she isn't, I'm kinda hoping she went down to mother. She said there
was no other place where she could go. And she'd feel that she had to
deliver the money, perhaps--because I must have given her a couple of
thousand dollars. It was quite a roll, mostly in fifties and hundreds,
and I'm short that much. I'm just gambling that the size of made her
feel she must go."

"That'd be Sis all over, Mr. Birnie." Eddie glanced around him uneasily.
The sun was shining level in his eyes, and sunlight to Eddie had long
meant danger. "I guess we better hurry, then. I'll get the horses down
outa sight, and come back here afoot and wait."

"Do that, kid," said Bud, slipping wearily off Sunfish. He gave the
reins into Eddie's hand, motioned Jerry with his head to follow, and
hurried down the winding path to the corrals. The cool brilliance of the
morning, the cheerful warbling of little, wild canaries in the bushes
as he passed, for once failed to thrill him with joy of life. He was
wondering whether to go straight to the house and search it if necessary
to make sure that she had not been there, or whether Indian cunning
would serve him best. His whole being ached for direct action; his heart
trembled with fear lest he should jeopardize Marian's safety by his
impetuous haste to help her.

Pop, coming from the stable just as Bud was crossing the corral, settled
the question for him. Pop peered at him sharply, put a hand to the small
of his back and came stepp