an wait."

"That's the stuff!" Yellin' Kid burst out. "I was waitin' to hear you
say that, Dick. Might as well look things in the face! We've gotten
too deep into this to drag freight now!"

"You're right, Kid," approved Bud. "And truth to tell, I'm not a bit
sorry. I don't care for Delton a-tall. We'll go through with this,
and finish it up right."

"And get my ole bronc back," the Kid said loudly.

"We might do that, too," Dick laughed. "Well, let's hit the hay.
Plenty to do to-morrow."

The night passed quietly. The punchers were up with the sun, all eager
for the task on hand. Directly breakfast was over, Dick and Bud rode
to town in order to see Hawkins. All thought it best that the deputy
should learn, as soon as possible, of the new development, for he might
want to change his plans in accordance. The boys found him in his
office.

"Come in, boys!" he invited when Dick and Bud stood in the doorway.
"How's everything? Any more cyclones?"

"Not yet," answered Bud with a laugh. "The weather is quiet, but
that's the only thing that is."

"What do you mean?" the deputy asked quickly.

Without any preliminaries Bud told the story of his capture and escape.
The deputy listened carefully, now and then asking a question. When
Bud had finished he sat silent for a moment, drumming his desk with his
fingers. Suddenly he brought his fist down with a bang and looked up.

"That settles it!" he cried in a decided tone of voice. "Delton is
finished! From now on we go after him tooth and nail! And I want you
boys to know something. I can rely on you, of course, to keep it a
secret." Strangely the deputy's western accent seemed to leave him,
and he assumed a more cultured tone of voice. He held a shiny piece of
metal out toward Bud. "I'm from Washington--Secret Service--here's my
badge."

Bud took it silently. It was, indeed, the badge of a federal official.

"I took this job as an ordinary deputy to disarm suspicion," Hawkins
went on. "I knew if I came to Roaring River as a stranger I'd be
investigated, and perhaps have to give myself away. So I just got
myself appointed a deputy, and then I could work openly. No one would
suspect a western deputy of being a federal man--there's too many of
them. Now you know why I'm so interested in this smuggling. We've
simply _got_ to stop it--somehow! Even the Chinese who are in this
country legitimately don't like to see their countrymen come in by