HERIFF OF THIS COUNTY."
"_Dorothy's Triumph._"]

"It is too bad," said Gerald. "When we last heard the cries they came
from about that direction," and he extended his finger down the
mountainside. "Then they grew fainter and seemed to be moving off to
the east. We'd like very much to help you, sheriff. If we'd any idea
it was only a boy, and a scapegoat, at that, we could have caught
and held him until your arrival."

"Well, I could hardly expect that," returned the minion of the law,
with a good-natured smile. "Come, Haley, let's be off. He can't have
gone far between midnight and now, so we're apt to overhaul him at
some of the farm houses up the valley. Good-by, boys--see you later!"

The men tipped their hats to the ladies out of courtesy for their
presence, and rode away.

"Hope they don't see us later," said Jim, as he stood with Gerald
gazing after their receding forms.

"No; for he might catch us at an inopportune moment. If they ever
found Len in our camp there'd be the very dickens to pay."

"Couldn't do anything to us, Gerald, and I don't believe he'd have
any right to take Len, unless there's some papers filed in the court
of this county, appointing James Haley his guardian. Just merely
because he's an orphan don't give a man a right to take him and hold
him against his will--even if he is his uncle."

"Boys, I really must congratulate you on your presence of mind," said
Dorothy, when the riders had disappeared from view. "You handled the
matter perfectly. Wait till I tell Ephraim to let Len come out from
under cover," and she left them to enter the tent.

Len was nearly roasted when he emerged from beneath the quilt, for
the weather was excessively warm and his clothes were not as thin as
they might have been. But he was smiling bravely through the
perspiration, and rejoiced with the others that he had been so lucky
as to escape being returned to captivity.

"I don't understand how my uncle ever influenced the sheriff to help
him hunt for me," he said. "I know Sheriff Dundon, and he's a mighty
good man. He knows very well the way I was treated, so Uncle James
must have pulled the wool over his eyes some way. Well, I reckon it
don't matter much now. They're gone and I hope they'll never come
back."

"It won't do to take any chances, yet, Len," said Aunt Betty. "You'll
have to spend most of your time in the tent, with someone constantly
on watch outside. It will be pretty hard on you, but better