ind some
grub to take with us."

"Great head!" laughed Adrian.

"Great stomach, you mean," from Donald. "It never lets him
forget."

The boys plundered through the house. The owners must have been
scared away, for nothing had been disturbed. In the kitchen they
found a big plate of _tortillas_, half a baked kid, and some
wheat bread. This they appropriated.

"We might as well have a blanket apiece," said Donald. "It is
only another case of a fair exchange. The Mexicans have our suit
cases."

Each took a blanket and Adrian was so fortunate after searching
all over the house as to find a shotgun and a belt full of loaded
shells that went with it.

"If those shells were loaded with buckshot you'd be all right,"
said Billie. "They're the----"

His speech was interrupted by a cry that fairly made their blood
run cold.

"What's that?" and the three stopped as though they had been
paralysed.

Again came the cry, and with a single bound the boys were out in
the open, each with his weapon ready for instant use.

They could see no one, but there was the sound of something
crashing through the brush which hid the railroad from the house.

"Sounded like a wild cat," declared Donald.

"Or a coyote," said Billie.

"I'm sure it was a human voice," remarked Adrian. "Do you
remember the Zunis?" referring to another adventure told in the
story of the "Broncho Rider Boys Along the Border."

Even as he spoke there emerged from the brush the figure of a
woman carrying in her arms a small child. Winged by fear, she was
bounding along like an antelope.

A moment later, and not two rods behind her, came forth a figure
which the boys instantly recognized as a mountain lion.

How the woman had succeeded in escaping it even for a moment was
a mystery.

In a second the three weapons spoke. The report was followed by a
scream from the beast and a cry from the woman, both of whom fell
lifeless to the earth--the beast dead and the woman in a swoon.

"Take care of the woman, you two," said Adrian. "I'll examine the
beast."

No one stopped to question the order.

Billie picked up the child which the woman had let fall, while
Donald stooped down and felt the woman's pulse. Then he darted
into the house and was back in a minute with a bucket half filled
with water. With it he bathed the woman's temples and poured a
little down her throat.

In a couple of minutes she revived and looked around.

"Mi nina!" she gasped.

"