ront of the open
door were several men dressed in the uniform of the regular army. They
seemed to be holding a consultation, and so deeply engrossed were they
with their deliberations that they did not notice the approach of the
troopers, although the latter had stopped their horses on the summit of
a high ridge in plain view of them.

"I wonder if those are our men?" said Carey, with some excitement in his
tones.

"We shall soon know," was Bob's calm reply. "Whoever they are, they will
have to give an account of themselves, for I am instructed to arrest
everybody I meet wearing a uniform."

"If they _are_ our fellows, we've got them corralled," remarked Loring.

"Yes, but I don't much like the way we have 'corralled' them," returned
Carey. "Do you see that dug-out about twenty yards from the northwest
corner of the station? If they go in there they can laugh at us. The
only way we could get them out would be to starve them out."

"That would take too long," said Bob; and the tone in which the words
were uttered made his comrades look at him with some curiosity. "Let's
go down there and interview them, and then we shall know how to act.
Forward! Trot!"

Just as these commands were given a commotion among the men in front of
the station indicated that somebody had sounded an alarm. They gazed at
the troopers for a moment as if they were thunderstruck, and then made a
simultaneous rush for the entrance. This action on their part told Bob
as plainly as words that they were the men of whom he had been sent in
pursuit, and that they did not intend to go back to the fort if they
could help it. A moment later a loud slamming and pounding indicated
that the deserters were trying to close and barricade the door. This had
scarcely been accomplished when the troopers dashed up to the station
and swung themselves out of their saddles.

Leaving two of his men to hold the horses, Bob and the rest walked
around the corner of the station and looked at the dug-out. There was a
face in front of every loophole. Anybody could see that the deserters
had the advantage of position, and the troopers wondered what Bob was
going to do about it. They glanced at his face, but could see nothing
there to tell them whether he was excited, afraid or discouraged. It
wore its usual expression.

"Well, boys," said Bob at length, "if you have grown tired of roaming
about the country, come out, and we will go back to the post. The
colonel wants t