handle Lukins," answered
Buck.

"That so? Panhandle's goin' to punch for us next year. I'll hunt him up.
I heard down south of Albuquerque that Thirsty Jones an' his brothers
are lookin' for trouble," offered Pie.

"Yah! They ain't lookin' for no trouble--they just goes around
blowin' off. Trouble? Why, they don't know what she is," remarked Red
contemptuously.

"Well, they's been dodgin' th' sheriff purty lively lately, an' if that
ain't trouble I don't know what is," said Pie.

"It shore is, an' hard to dodge," acquiesced Buck.

"Well, I has to amble. Is Panhandle in Denver? Yes? I calculates as
how me an' him'll buck th' tiger for a whirl--he's shore lucky. Well, so
long," said Pie as he moved on.

"So long," responded the two.

"Hey, wait a minute," yelled Pie after he had ridden a hundred yards.
"If yu sees Hopalong yu might tell him that th' Joneses are goin' to
hunt him up when they gits to Albuquerque. They's shore sore on him.
'Tain't none of my funeral, only they ain't always a-carin' how they
goes after a feller. So long," and soon he was a cloud of dust on the
horizon.

"Trouble!" snorted Red; "well, between dodgin' Harris an' huntin'
Hopalong I reckons they'll shore find her." Then to himself he murmured,
"Funny how everythin' comes his way."

"That's gospel shore enough, but, as Pie said, they ain't a whole lot
particular as how they deal th' cards. We better get a move on an' find
that ornery little cuss," replied Buck.

"O. K., only I ain't losin' no sleep about Hoppy. His gun's too lively
for me to do any worryin'," asserted Red.

"They'll get lynched some time, shore," declared Buck.

"Not if they find Hoppy," grimly replied Red.

They tore through Santa Fe, only stopping long enough to wet their
throats, and after several hours of hard riding entered Alameda, where
they found Hopalong in the manner narrated.

After some time the three left the room and headed for Albuquerque,
twelve miles to the south. At ten o'clock they dismounted before the
Nugget and Rope, an unpainted wooden building supposed to be a
clever combination of barroom, dance and gambling hall and hotel. The
cleverness lay in the man who could find the hotel part.

CHAPTER VII. The Open Door

The proprietor of the Nugget and Rope, a German named Baum, not being
troubled with police rules, kept the door wide open for the purpose
of inviting trade, a proceeding not to the liking of his patrons for
obvious reas