tter tried a shot at the boy. The
bullet passed Butler rather too close for comfort, but the Pony Rider
Boy appeared not to have heard the shot.

Not a word was being said by the lad's companions. The professor lay
where he had fallen, the perspiration streaming from his face and body
up the side of the canyon the big eyes of Chunky might have been seen
peering through between the bushes at the exciting scene below. All
at once Tad stooped over. When he straightened up with a bound that
carried him several feet to one side, he held a good-sized stone in
his right hand.

"Now will you drop that pistol?" demanded the Pony Rider Boy.

"I'll drop you!" roared the enraged enemy.

No sooner had he uttered the words than Tad, with a well-directed toss,
dropped the stone fairly on the stomach of the man on the ground.

The prisoner uttered a yell that might have been heard a quarter of a
mile away. Ere the yell had died out another stone landed nearly in
the same place. The weapon dropped from the hands of the fellow,
falling between his legs where he could not reach it without changing
his position materially. This he tried to do in a series of quick
twists and wriggles, though the boys knew from the expression on his
face that he was suffering great pain. It was not surprising, in view
of the fact that two rocks, each weighing from eight to ten pounds,
had been dropped on his stomach.

The fellow found no opportunity to recover the lost weapon. Tad was
upon him with a rush. Grabbing the mountaineer's feet he dragged the
man roughly to one side.

"I guess that will be about all for you, my man. You may push us too
far. I shan't promise to let you off so easily if you try any more
tricks. Professor, are you much hurt?"

"I---I don't know. I'm bleeding."

"Let's see what he did to you."

A quick examination developed the fact that the professor had sustained
merely a flesh wound. It was bleeding very little now. Tad, at the
professor's direction, washed and dressed the wound, binding a piece
of cloth firmly about the waist.

"There, I guess you will be all right now. You may come down, Chunky.
The fun is all over for the present. How did he happen to get you
that way, Professor?"

Professor Zepplin explained how the prisoner had tricked him, declaring
his belief in Tad Butler's statement that the prisoner was a bad man.
The professor no longer urged the release of their prisoner. Tad
smiled mi