w what, boys?"

"If we can get that wild buckboard man to drive slowly, we have a load
of passengers to take back. Oh, say, Dad, do you know Mr. Hawkins? I
don't know whether you--" Bud paused suggestively.

"Yes, indeed," Mr. Merkel said with a smile. "We're old friends. He
came to me long ago and arranged most of this scheme. Sorry we had to
do it, boys--but the government seems to know its business!"

"I'm glad you look at it in that light, Mr. Merkel," the agent said as
he shook hands. "We have to be very, very careful--and a slip that may
seem trivial to others may mean success or failure to us. But let me
say that these boys have more than come up to expectations. I have
never seen a better----"

"Hey, hey, take it easy!" the Kid laughed. "It might go to our heads.
But one thing, Mr. Hawkins. It's about----"

"I know--the reward! And you get it, too, boys. As soon as we get to
town I'll give you a check that's in my office safe. You have
certainly earned it."

"Now we can get a new bunch of longhorns!" shouted Dick gleefully.
"Great stuff! That's worth going without a night's sleep for!"

"And the radio," Nort broke in. "We get that, too!"

"You and your sparkin' outfit," Yellin' Kid scoffed. "You want music
with your grub, I guess!"

"Say, Mr. Hawkins, what's the penalty for smuggling in this state?" Bud
inquired. "I just wondered----"

"Ten years," the agent answered briefly. "Delton's due for quite a
long stretch. He'll have time to think over his errors."

"Ten years," Bud said musingly. "Ten years in jail! Mr. Hawkins, if
we testified that Delton wasn't so bad as he's supposed to be, and
that----"

The boy stopped. Hawkins looked at him long and hard. Then he walked
over and held out his hand.

"Son," he said simply, "that's the whitest thing I've ever seen a man
do. I'll try to fix it up for you. We'll do what we can to lighten
his sentence."

"Thanks," Bud said gratefully.

"Well, when do we start?" Mr. Merkel asked. "If you men are hungry,
we'd better get going. Did I understand you to say we'd have a load
going back, Bud?"

"And then some! Now let's see how we can arrange this. Billee Dobb
goes back in the buckboard. And so do the others who are badly hurt.
How many do you think can ride, Kid? You know we've got their horses
at the back, and some can come along on them."

"Figure Delton and two of those other guys should go in the wagon. The
rest can