e are wasting time, Tad," cried the professor as the lad rode up.
"It is my opinion that we had better ride into that canyon there and
make camp in some secluded spot where we shall not be easily found."

"I am afraid that won't help us any, Professor," said Tad. "How
could we expect to hide ourselves in there so completely that a
mountaineer would not find us? No, sir, it is my opinion that our
only safety lies out there in the open, at least for the rest of the
afternoon and the night."

"What, ride out there to be shot up again?" demanded Stacy. "No, sir,
not for Stacy Brown! I've been shot up once. I don't propose to make
a bull's-eye of myself again."

"Stacy is right, boys. It would be foolishness to follow such a
course and---"

"Wait till you hear my plan, sir," urged Butler.

"We will hear it. Proceed."

"Out yonder about a quarter of a mile from the base of the rocks is a
depression in the plain. If we can reach it we shall be safe---"

"Yes, if we can reach it," repeated Ned.

"In doing so we should be shot in all probability," objected Professor
Zepplin.

"I think not, sir."

"Explain what you mean?"

"From the position occupied by the man or men when they fired at us
out there, I am sure they could not see us were we to follow the
course I went out on just now. If you will ride down to the edge of
the foothills with me and wait there, I will gallop out and prove my
theory."

"What do you mean?" questioned the professor.

"I will see if I can draw their fire," answered Tad.

Professor Zepplin shook his head.

"Too risky!"

"It certainly is risky to stay here. Listen, sir. If that man wants
to get us he surely will be creeping down on our position before long.
We are in greater peril here, where we can't see anything on one side
of us, than we would be out there where we have an unobstructed view on
all sides. My plan is to make camp out in the hollow; then we will
place a guard over the camp, keeping a sharp watch all through the
night. By morning we'll be able to find out what is in the wind."

"I won't move a step," declared Stacy stubbornly.

"You will do whatever seems best to the rest of us," answered the
professor sternly. Then, after a moment's thought, he added, "I am
inclined, upon second thought, to agree with Tad. We will try the plan."

"Good. Follow me. Get that pony, Chunky. I told you once before to
catch him. We'll be in a fine mess if you lose your