uspicious right away, and I foolishly spoke up and
told him as much. Then he said it was his affair if he wanted to pay
that much to stay on. I knew that Dad wouldn't want me to allow him to
do that without his permission, so I refused--asked him if I could let
him know later. But no, that wouldn't do. He wanted me to sign an
extension right away. Then when I told him I couldn't do that, he
threatened to stay anyway, and practically dared us to put him off."

"He did, hey? That sort of puts it up to us, don't it?"

"You know what I think would be a good idee?" Billee Dobb broke in.
"We ought to go down and have a talk with Joe Hawkins. Tell him what
we found, and ask him if he's got any advice he'd like to dish up.
Seemed to me he was a pretty reliable feller."

"Not bad--not bad," said Yellin' Kid approvingly. "He said he'd be
glad to help us any time. Not that we're goin' to need any help
gettin' this dude off," he added quickly. "But it might be a good idea
to have the law on our side."

"We can see him and get him to sign a dispossess notice," Nort
suggested. "I don't know whether he knows what that is, but it's just
a paper saying we have a right to put out whoever is on the land."

"We'll do that, Nort," agreed Dick. "Then we can start right. Let's
get on, fellows. It's getting late, and we want to catch Hawkins
before he leaves for home."

Spurring their broncoes to a faster pace, the five made their way
toward the town. The suggestion that they were to confer with the
friendly deputy seemed a wise one, not because they were afraid to
tackle the job of removing "J. D." alone, but because they wanted to
know just how things stood. Perhaps by inquiry they could gain some
clew as to why the tenant refused to vacate. If he sincerely wanted an
extension of his lease to legitimately conduct the business of
ranching, he was going about it in a queer way.

As the riders reached the town, they stopped a cow puncher and asked
where they could find Joe Hawkins.

"Right down the street a ways," they were told. "Can't miss it. Jail,
court house and sheriff's office all in one. Some shootin' been goin'
on?"

"Not that we know of," Dick laughed.

"Though there might be soon," said Bud impetuously.

"How's that? You figgerin' on pluggin' someone, youngster?" the cowboy
inquired with a grin.

"Not hardly," the Kid spoke quickly. "We just want to see Hawkins
about some land. Thanks for the inf