ng men, and had evidently been drinking.

"I didn't think we'd have anybody here from the Merwell place,"
whispered Phil.

"Well, I suppose some of our cowboys sold them the tickets," answered
Dave. "I certainly didn't think that fellow, Snogger, would show
himself."

"The men with him are pretty loud," said Roger. "I hope they don't try
to break up the show."

The second half of the entertainment was in full swing when one of the
men with Snogger commenced to laugh uproariously. His companion joined
in, and both made such a noise that not a word spoken on the stage could
be heard by the rest of the audience.

"Say, keep quiet there!" called out Sid Todd, who was acting as a sort
of usher.

The two cowboys paid no attention to this request, but continued to
laugh, and presently one of them joined in the chorus of one of the
songs the girls and boys were rendering. He sang badly out of tune, and
made such a discord that the song had to come to a stop.

"Go on! Go on!" he yelled, loudly.

"Whoop her up, everybody!" called his companion. "All join in the glad
refrain!" And he started to sing in a heavy, liquor-laden voice.

"You shut up or git out!" cried Sid Todd, striding forward.

"They don't mean no harm," put in Hank Snogger, but he did not speak in
positive tones.

"You keep out of this, Snogger," answered Todd, coldly. "Those men have
got to behave themselves or git out. I said it, an' I mean it."

"That's right--put 'em out!" shouted several.

"Ain't we got a right to laff?" demanded one of the cowboys who were
making the disturbance.

"Yes, but not so as to drown everything else," answered Sid Todd. "An'
you can't sing."

"We come here fer some fun," said the other cowboy from the Merwell
ranch. "An' we are going to have it. Whoop her up, everybody!" And he
commenced to sing once more.

There were cries from all sides, and for a minute it looked as if the
entertainment would end in a general row. But then Sid Todd gave a
signal to some of the other Endicott hands, and in a twinkling the two
boisterous cowboys were grabbed and hustled from the house. One tried to
draw his pistol, but was given a blow in the face that all but sent him
flat.

"You brought those fellows over here--you take 'em away--an' mighty
quick, too," said Sid Todd to Hank Snogger. And he gave the other cowboy
such a black look that Snogger sneaked out of the house in a hurry.
Outside, the three men were surrounded by a doz