er heard of them."

"Or smelled them," added Nort.

"That's right--smelled 'em, either, and, what's more, I don't want to!
No, I don't believe it was skunks."

"Rattlesnakes, maybe," was Dick's next contribution. "Horses are
afraid of rattlers all right."

"Yes, and with good reason," Bud said, "though I don't know as I ever
heard of a horse dying from a side-winder's bite. It may happen, but,
personally, I can't prove it. All the same I don't believe it was
rattlers, though there are plenty in this region."

"Why couldn't it have been snakes?" asked Dick.

"Well, if any rattlers had sounded their warning, and they always do
rattle before they strike, we would have heard them as well as the
horses would, and I didn't hear anything."

"No, I didn't, either," Dick and Nort admitted in turn. "But what was
it, then?" Nort asked.

"It was something the horses smelled!" declared Bud with conviction.
"They got a whiff of something they didn't like and they lit out like
all possessed."

"Do you mean a bear?" asked Dick.

"Bear what?" came from Bud who had urged his pony somewhat ahead of the
mounts of his cousins.

"Did the horses smell a bear, do you think?" went on Dick. "You know a
bear, even a tame circus one, will set a cow pony off quicker than
anything else."

"Yes," agreed Bud. "But I hardly think this was a bear. There are
probably some back in the woods and hills, but they don't very often
venture into the open, especially at this time of year. And if it had
been a bear I think I would have winded him."

"I don't know about that," came from Nort. "You know a horse, and
almost any other animal, has a keener sense of smell than most humans.
The horses might have smelled something we didn't."

"That's true enough," assented Bud. "But the fact of the matter is I
noticed a queer sort of smell just before the horses bolted. It wasn't
very strong, and was more like perfume than anything else. In fact I
thought it might be some sort of flower or perhaps an herb the ponies
stepped on and crushed. I was just going to mention it to you fellows
when the rush began and I had my hands full, same as you did. Either
of you notice any smell?"

Nort and Dick had to confess that they had not, but Dick added:

"You've lived out of doors more than we have, Bud, and you got a better
nose--I mean for smelling, not for shape!" he added as Bud's hand went
to his olfactory organ. "So you might have caught a