iyi!" chorused the others.

"We've got 'em on the run!" yelled Tad, as the circling horsemen swung
out into a straight line and began racing across the plains, turning
in their saddles to shoot at their assailants.

"Can you see to let them have a few shots into the ground to hurry them
along?" called Butler.

"Yes, yes," yelled the boys.

"Be careful," warned the professor. Bang, bang, bang, bang! answered
the rifles of the Pony Rider Boys. The horses of the bandits fairly
leaped into the air. Soon after that they faded into dark, uncertain
streaks on the white of the plain. Now the rifle of the solitary
horseman began to speak again. Joe Withem was not afflicted with any
scruples against shooting to hit. He tumbled one man out of his
saddle, but the fellow's companions scooped up the wounded bandit,
carrying him away with them. Withem thought he saw a man go down,
but he could not be sure.

The boys swept past him some distance to the left of the Ranger, still
shooting, their purpose being to keep the bandits going until the
latter should have been driven so far away that they would not be
back that night.

"Swing back!" commanded Tad. The boys pulled their horses down, and
wheeling began trotting back. A little beyond they saw Withem
galloping toward them.

"You were just in time, fellows. They had me on the hip for sure."

"I'm glad of it," called Tad, "for---"

"What's that? Who are you?" interrupted the lieutenant. Then he
pulled his horse up sharply. "Well, I'll be jiggered, if it isn't
you."

"That's who it is," laughed Tad. "Are you hit?"

"I stopped a couple, but it doesn't amount to anything. Just flesh
wounds, that's all. And you boys put the bandits on the run, eh?"
wondered the Ranger lieutenant. "That's another one I owe you. That's
another one the Cap'n owes you too."

"Don't mention it."

"How did they happen to discover you?" asked the professor riding
up beside the Ranger.

"That's what gets me. I don't understand it at all. They must have
caught sight of me as I was riding out. They surely didn't know I
had Dunk with me or they wouldn't have begun shooting at me. They'd
have tried to pot the pony in the legs and get me afterwards, though
I might have stood them off till daylight."

"Bad, very bad!" muttered the professor.

"I call it very good, sir. Those fellows have had a fright that will
keep them going for some hours yet. They think it is the Rangers