of the bacon and coffee,
not to mention that of the flapjacks, added zest to the appetites of
the boys, if zest were needed, and soon they were eagerly eating.

Then, as night settled down they gathered a quantity of wood for the
fire, looked to the fastenings of their ponies and stretched out under
the light of the bright stars. They were--except for their
ponies--alone amid the foothills, how far from Diamond X ranch they
could only guess.

CHAPTER XVIII

QUEER OPERATIONS

"Feel sleepy?" asked Nort of Dick when they had stretched out under
their canvas blankets, which might keep off the dew, but which were not
very comfortable.

"Not specially," answered Dick. "I'm thinking too much of all that's
happened lately."

"So 'm I. But I'm not worried because we're here; are you?"

"Not a bit of it! This is only fun! We wanted to see real western
life and we're seeing it," Dick went on. "This is what we came out
here for. It isn't like anything else we ever did, and it only makes
me all the more want to be a rancher."

"You said it. Only there are one or two things I'd like to know more
about."

"Such as what, for instance?" asked the younger lad.

"Well, I'd like to know who it was that tried to snake you away with a
lasso. I'd like to do the same to him. And I'd like to know more
about those two strange professors, and what they're after."

"I'm with you there," spoke Dick, as he raised on one elbow to look
toward where he had tethered his horse, the animal seeming to be
suddenly excited about something.

"Only a coyote," remarked Nort, as he caught sight of a slinking figure
under the light of the stars. The boys had become used to these
creatures which acted as scavengers of the plains.

"I wonder if, after all, those professors can be hunting gold?" mused
Dick, when his horse had quieted down and resumed grazing.

"According to what Bud says there isn't any gold here and never has
been," declared Nort. "But there is a mystery about them and I'd give
a lot to solve it. You see we tenderfeet don't count for much out on a
ranch--that is, yet. We don't know much about roping or shooting or
riding herd. Of course we're learning, and Bud and the others are as
nice about it as they can be, but I can see they don't think overly
much about our abilities; and I don't blame them.

"But if we could solve this mystery about those professors, and maybe
connect 'em up with some of the cattle r