went into the canyon for a dip in the creek.

He wandered up the stream a short distance and was surprised to see a
saddle horse standing dejectedly on the trail. The next moment Kie
Wicks had hailed him genially from the cliff above.

"Say pard," he called. "Last night when I was going home over the hill
here, I found what looks like the ruins of an Indian village. Do you
want to take a look at them?"

"How far away is it?" asked the professor. "The boys are camping over
there with me, so I'd better go back and tell them where I'm going.

"It won't take you ten minutes, my friend," Kie answered. "You'll be
back before they have breakfast ready." Kie descended the steep
mountain and leading his horse, he urged the professor on with a
description of the marvelous ruins that he had discovered. Professor
Gillette was almost wild with excitement. He fairly danced from
boulder to boulder along that rocky trail, and when they reached a
narrow pass between the high canyon walls, Kie stopped his horse for a
moment.

At that same instant two men suddenly sprang into the trail in front of
them, grabbed the unsuspecting professor, bound and gagged him and tied
him to a horse.

Professor Gillette could not imagine why he should be treated like
this. Why should he be robbed? He had nothing. And where was Kie
Wicks? Had the men kidnapped him as well? It took the kindly mind of
the professor a long time to grasp the idea that Kie Wicks might have
something to do with the affair.

The old man did not struggle as he had an impulse to do. He knew it
would be useless. The men were powerful, while he was frail, and
helpless in their hands. It would be much better for him to save his
strength so that his mind could work out a scheme for escape.

He was not the sort of person to waste energy in worry. He believed
that nothing could harm him, and he lay quietly in the uncomfortable
position on the horse, wondering where he was going and how long they
would hold him captive. What would The Merriweather Girls do when they
heard about it? He had to smile at the thought of the adventure they
would make of it. Yet perhaps it was nothing to smile about. He might
never return alive.

The boys did not miss the old man until breakfast was ready. They knew
that it was his custom to start the day with a dip in the stream and so
they went on with their breakfast preparations without giving him a
thought. Finally they sa