te arm upon Dick's shoulder.

"I will stay here for a while, at least," answered Dick. "But--but I am
without a cent, and----"

"How much do you want, Dick?" and Pawnee Brown's pocketbook came out
without delay.

"If you will lend me ten dollars----"

"Here are twenty. When you want more let me know. Now, goodbye, and good
luck to you."

And the next minute Pawnee Brown and Clemmer were gone. Dick watched
them out of sight and a warm feeling went over his heart.

"The major is as generous as he is brave," he murmured. "He is one scout
of a thousand. No wonder all the boomers asked him to lead them in this
expedition."

Ten minutes later Dick was drying himself at the fire in a house near
by. Hearing his tale of misfortune, the man who took him in insisted
upon treating him to some hot coffee, which did a good bit toward making
him feel once more like himself.

"It may be a wild-goose chase, but I can't give it up," he muttered as
he continued his search by walking along the river bank. "Poor father,
where can he be?"

The outskirts of the city had been left behind and he was making his way
through a tangle of brush and over shelving rocks. A bend was passed and
he gave a wild cry.

And small wonder. There on the river bank lay the motionless form of his
parent, dripping yet with the water of the river. The eyes were closed
as if in death. With a moan Dick threw himself forward and caught one of
the cold hands within his own. Then he placed his ear to his parent's
heart.

"Too late! He is gone!" he wailed. "Poor, poor father, dead after all!
Oh, if only I had died with you!" and he sank back utterly overcome.

CHAPTER IX.

MIKE AND THE MULES.

"We move in an hour!"

This was the word which was whispered about the boomers' camp shortly
after Pawnee Brown's arrival.

The great scout had found it out of the question to attempt to enter the
Indian Territory in a direct route from Arkansas City. The government
troops were watching the trail, and the soldiers were backed up by the
cattle kings' helpers, who would do all in their power to harass the
pioneers and make them turn back.

Many a man would have gone ahead with a rush, but Pawnee Brown knew
better than to do this. If he was brave, he was also cautious.

"A rush now would mean people killed, horses shot down or poisoned,
wagons ditched, harnesses cut up and a thousand and one other
disasters," he said. "We must beat the cattle kings at