to the
professor's camp. "They're behind us. This sound comes from in front."

"Maybe it's Bud looking for us!" exclaimed Dick, and before his brother
could comment, they both saw riding toward them in the moonlight, up
from a little valley, several cowboys. The form of more than one was
familiar to Dick and Nort, but as they saw their cousin in the front
rank they cried out:

"Bud!"

"There they are!" yelled Bud in answer, and a moment later our heroes
were among their friends.

"Where have you been? What happened? Are you hurt?"

These were only a few questions fired at the escaped prisoners, and as
they managed to tell their story there were ominous growls and comments
from the cowboys with Bud.

"The scoundrels! Rustling our cattle!" cried Bud. "We'll fix 'em!"

"They're doing something else besides rustling your cattle," declared
Nort. "Let's go back to Diamond X and organize a crowd to raid this
camp! We haven't enough men here, and Dick and I haven't any guns," he
added.

"All right," assented Bud, after a moment's thought. "We can do better
in daylight, anyhow. Back to the ranch it is!"

And as the rescue squad turned to go back Nort and Dick rode with them,
their thoughts busy with many topics.

CHAPTER XXIII

CLOSING IN

"Now let's have the whole yarn," urged Bud Merkel.

The rescue party of cowboys had returned to Diamond X ranch, after
meeting Nort and Dick who were riding their saddleless horses on their
way of escape from the mysterious camp.

Thereupon the two brothers told everything that had happened since they
rode off together two days before, to haze back the bunch of wild
steers.

"Hum! That's quite a yarn," commented Bud's father who, with Slim
Degnan, Babe Milton and several of the cowboys, had listened to the
lads' story.

"Did they harm you at all?" asked motherly Mrs. Merkel.

"No, they were very polite about it," answered Nort. "But of course we
weren't going to stay with them on that account."

"I should say not!" chuckled Bud. "So you put paregoric in the
Greaser's coffee! That was rich! Even Zip Poster couldn't have done
better!"

"Oh, Zip! He'd 'a' drugged the whole camp, and brought 'em away one at
a time on his shoulder," said Slim, with a wink at the others.

"Hum! You know a lot--don't you?" murmured Bud, but it was easy to see
he did not like any fun poked at Zip Foster, a very mysterious
personage, it appeared.

"How'd you come t