the branches of the tree.

Winding up the lariat, he descended to the ground, and made a detour to
where Bonnie Bird remained standing, and to where he had cast his
pistol.

The mare and weapon secured, he continued on his way, but made certain
to wander into no more quicksand spots.

"It was too narrow an escape for comfort," was the way in which Pawnee
Brown expressed himself, when he told the story later.

An hour after found him again among the boomers.

Mike Delaney was just coming in by the Allen trail. The Irishman was
much crestfallen over his failure to find a better trail than that
selected by the scout, and Rosy was giving it to him with a vengeance.

"Th' nixt toime ye go forward it will be undher Pawnee Brown's
directions, Moike Delaney!" she cried. "It's not yerself thot is as
woise as Moses in the wilderness, moind thot!" And her clenched fist
shook vigorously to emphasize her words. After that Delaney never
strayed from the proper trail again.

All of the boomers but Jack Rasco were now on hand, and as hour after
hour went by and Rasco did not turn up, Pawnee Brown grew anxious about
the welfare of his right-hand man.

"Looking for the girl had brought him into trouble, more than likely,"
he thought, as he rode away from Honnewell, taking a due south course.
"And what can have become of her?"

Pawnee Brown was on his way to the spot where he had left Dick. He had
decided that as soon as he had found the lad, he would return to camp,
and then the onward march of the boomers for Oklahoma should at once be
begun.

On through the ravine where he had met Yellow Elk he dashed, Bonnie Bird
feeling fresh after a short rest and her morning meal, for the sun was
now creeping skyward. On through the brush, and he turned toward the
open prairie.

"Halt! Throw up your hands!"

The unexpected command came from the thicket on the edge of the prairie.
On the instant the boomer wheeled about. The sight which met his gaze
caused his heart to sink within him. There, drawn up in line, was the
full troop of cavalry sent out by the government to stop the boomers'
entrance to the much-coveted territory.

Vorlange's spy work was responsible, and Pawnee Brown's carefully-laid
plan had fallen through.

CHAPTER XXI.

DICK'S DISAGREEABLE DISCOVERY.

"Lost!"

Dick murmured the word over and over again, as he peered through the
brush, first in one direction and then in another.

"I ought to have kept