en of the Endicott hands,
and they were forced to mount their horses and ride away; and that was
the last seen of them for the time being.

The interruption made Laura and Jessie so nervous that they could not
sing any more, so the programme had to be changed. Dave thought of a
funny monologue Shadow Hamilton had once given at Oak Hall, and he gave
this, as far as he could remember it, and put in a few stories that were
new. The youth worked hard, and the cowboys applauded him vigorously
when he had finished, and soon the unpleasant incident was practically
forgotten. When the show was over, the cowboys all said it was the
finest thing they had ever seen outside of a city theater.

"Worth the money," said one old cowboy. "An' I'd go ag'in to-morrow
night, ef I could." Entertainments in that locality were rare, and the
show was a grand treat to all.

"Oh, but those men who laughed and sang were horrid!" said Laura. "And I
was so afraid they would start to shoot, I didn't know how to control
myself!"

"I believe they came over here on purpose to spoil the entertainment,"
said Phil.

"But why should they do that?" asked Jessie, innocently.

"More than likely Link Merwell got them to do it," answered Roger. "It
would be of a piece with his meanness."

"I believe they were brought over by that Hank Snogger," said the
shipowner's son.

"Yes, but I think Snogger is in some way under Link's thumb," put in
Dave. "Anyway, the two seem to have a good deal in common."

"Well, it was a mean piece of business," said Belle. "Oh, I do wish the
Merwells would sell out to some nice people! It would be splendid to
have real good neighbors."

On the following Monday the boys went fishing "on their own hook," as
Phil expressed it, although Jessie said he had better say "hooks," since
they proposed to use several of them. The boys rode over to the river
and took with them their shotguns. While fishing they kept their horses
in sight and their firearms ready for use, and had any horse-thieves
shown themselves they would have met with a hot reception. Fishing
proved good, and inside of three hours they had all the fish on their
strings that they cared to carry.

"Let us ride up the river a bit," suggested Phil, after they had eaten
their lunch. "I'd like to look at the country, and it is possible we may
be able to stir up some game."

As it was a clear day, the others agreed, and soon they were riding
slowly along a trail which