they were stole--stolen when he bought them."

Juno lifted her head, ears pointing, and rumbled in her throat. Blue
Pete grabbed the revolver he had discarded on his entry and thrust it
into his belt. Then he vanished into the trees that covered the
entrance.

Worming along the ground, another clump a stone's throw distant
swallowed him. There in the darkness of a second cave he pressed the
noses of the two horses, the familiar command to silence, and a moment
later he was outside again.

Somewhere above on the hillside was a sound only he and Juno could
hear. Blue Pete looked through the leaves and saw Sergeant Mahon.

The Policeman was bent over the ground. Presently he moved slowly
onward, eyes ever at his feet, dropping yard by yard down the
tree-lined slope. Evidently dissatisfied with what his eyes told him,
he stooped at times until his face was within a few inches of the dead
leaves and moss; often he rose to full height and looked away toward
the camp with a puzzled frown.

Lower and lower he sank toward the river's edge.

Blue Pete glided away before him. He himself had taught this man to
trail, had roused in Mahon the quick eye of suspicion that questioned
every turned leaf; and now he was to pay for it. Silently he cursed
the luck of things. He was satisfied no prying eye about the camp
could follow his tracks, but he had not counted on the Sergeant.

Down, step by step, moved Mahon, a zig-zag course that missed nothing.
Nearer and nearer he approached the cave home of the one who was
watching him with fevered eyes.

Blue Pete pictured the penalty he must pay were he taken now. Another
week or two and it would be different. There were still the two horses
in the boss's stable before his name was clear, and the bunch down in
the Cypress Hills was waiting to be returned to their rightful owners.
He could not face what the law would demand of him--Mira would not live
through it. Imprisonment--disgrace--death to all the hopes that had
sustained them both since his recovery!

On the trail of the unsuspecting Policeman he crept, and his face was
grim and gaunt.

Where the river bottom ran more level, Mahon halted and looked about
with a more general interest. The halfbreed felt safer, for he had
taken greater precautions nearer the caves. But there was always the
chance of a mistake, none knew it better than he who had profited so
often from the mistakes of others. And Mira's horse migh