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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Saddle Boys in the Grand Canyon, by James
+Carson
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Saddle Boys in the Grand Canyon
+       or The Hermit of the Cave
+
+
+Author: James Carson
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 15, 2007  [eBook #21841]
+[Last updated: March 10, 2011]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SADDLE BOYS IN THE GRAND
+CANYON***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Thomas Strong, Linda McKeown, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration.
+      See 21841-h.htm or 21841-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/8/4/21841/21841-h/21841-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/8/4/21841/21841-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON
+
+Or
+
+The Hermit of the Cave
+
+by
+
+CAPTAIN JAMES CARSON
+
+Author of "The Saddle Boys of the Rockies," "The Saddle
+Boys on the Plains," "The Saddle Boys at
+Circle Ranch," Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Cupples & Leon Company
+Publishers
+
+
+     *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+
+                BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+           BY CAPTAIN JAMES CARSON
+
+
+            THE SADDLE BOYS SERIES
+
+           12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
+
+
+       THE SADDLE BOYS OF THE ROCKIES
+         Or, Lost On Thunder Mountain
+
+       THE SADDLE BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON
+         Or, The Hermit of the Cave
+
+       THE SADDLE BOYS ON THE PLAINS
+         Or, After a Treasure of Gold
+
+       THE SADDLE BOYS AT CIRCLE RANCH
+         Or, In At The Grand Round-Up
+
+    CUPPLES & LEON CO PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK.
+
+
+     *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+
+Copyrighted 1913, by
+Cupples & Leon Company
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON
+
+Printed in U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+    I. THE WORK OF THE WOLF PACK                                     1
+
+   II. RIDDING THE RANGE OF A PEST                                  11
+
+  III. THE FLOATING BOTTLE                                          21
+
+   IV. THE LISTENER UNDER THE WINDOW                                34
+
+    V. STARTING FOR THE GRAND CANYON                                46
+
+   VI. BUCKSKIN ON GUARD                                            54
+
+  VII. STANDING BY THE LAW                                          62
+
+ VIII. THE MOQUI WHO WAS CAUGHT NAPPING                             71
+
+   IX. "TALK ABOUT LUCK!"                                           79
+
+    X. THE COPPER-COLORED MESSENGER                                 87
+
+   XI. AT THE GRAND CANYON                                          98
+
+  XII. HOW THE LITTLE TRAP WORKED                                  105
+
+ XIII. GOING DOWN THE CANYON TRAIL                                 116
+
+  XIV. THE HOME OF THE CLIFF DWELLERS                              124
+
+   XV. THE TREACHEROUS GUIDE                                       135
+
+  XVI. A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY                                       143
+
+ XVII. THE WINDOWS IN THE ROCKY WALLS                              151
+
+XVIII. FINDING A WAY UP                                            158
+
+  XIX. FORTUNE STILL FAVORS THE BRAVE                              167
+
+   XX. ANOTHER SURPRISE                                            175
+
+  XXI. THE LITTLE OLD MAN OF ECHO CAVE                             184
+
+ XXII. TURNING THE TABLES--CONCLUSION                              195
+
+
+
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE WORK OF THE WOLF PACK
+
+
+"Hold up, Bob!"
+
+"Any signs of the lame yearling, Frank?"
+
+"Well, there seems to be something over yonder to the west; but the sage
+crops up, and interferes a little with my view."
+
+"Here, take the field glasses and look; while I cinch my saddle girth,
+which has loosened again."
+
+Frank Haywood adjusted the glasses to his eye. Then, rising in his
+saddle, he gazed long and earnestly in the direction he had indicated.
+Meanwhile his companion, also a lad, a native of Kentucky, and answering
+to the name of Bob Archer, busied himself about the band of his saddle,
+having leaped to the ground.
+
+Frank was the only son of a rancher and mine owner, Colonel Leonidas
+Haywood, who was a man of some wealth. Frank had blue eyes, and
+tawny-colored hair; and, since much of his life had been spent on the
+plains among the cattle men, he knew considerable about the ways of
+cowboys and hunters, though always ready to pick up information from
+veterans of the trail.
+
+Bob had come to the far Southwest as a tenderfoot; but, being quick to
+learn, he hoped to graduate from that class after a while. Having always
+been fond of outdoor sports in his Kentucky home, he was, at least, no
+greenhorn. When he came to the new country where his father was
+interested with Frank's in mining ventures, Bob had brought his favorite
+Kentucky horse, a coal-black stallion known as "Domino," and which vied
+with Frank's native "Buckskin" in good qualities.
+
+These two lads were so much abroad on horseback that they had become
+known as the "Saddle Boys." They loved nothing better than to ride the
+plains, mounted on their pet steeds, and go almost everywhere the
+passing whim tempted them.
+
+Of course, in that wonderland there was always a chance for adventure
+when one did much wandering; and that Frank and Bob saw their share of
+excitement can be readily understood. Some of the strange things that
+happened to them have already been narrated in the first volume of this
+series, "The Saddle Boys of the Rockies, Or, Lost on Thunder Mountain,"
+and which, in a way, is an introduction to the present story. In the
+first book the boys cleared up a wonderful mystery concerning a great
+cavern.
+
+For several minutes Bob was busily engaged with the saddle girth that
+had been giving him considerable trouble on this gallop.
+
+"There," he remarked, finally, throwing down the flap as though
+satisfied with his work. "I reckon I've got it fixed now so that it will
+hold through the day; but I need a new girth, and when we pull up again
+at Circle Ranch I'll see about getting it. Oh! did you make out anything
+with the glasses, Frank?"
+
+He sprang into the saddle like one who had spent much of his time on
+horseback. Domino curvetted and pranced a little, being still full of
+mettle and spirits; but a very firm hand held him in.
+
+"Take the glass, and see if you can make out what it is," Frank
+remarked, as if he hardly knew himself, or felt like trusting his eyes.
+
+A minute later Bob lowered the glasses.
+
+"There's something on the ground, and I can catch a glimpse of what
+looks like a dun-colored hide through the tufts of buffalo grass. The
+yearling was red, you said, Frank? All right. Then I reckon we'll find
+her there; but not on her feet."
+
+"Come on!"
+
+As he said these curt words Frank let Buckskin have his head; and,
+accompanied by his chum, started at a full gallop over the level, in the
+direction of the spot where the dun-colored object had been sighted.
+
+Shortly afterward they topped a little rise, and pulled up. No need to
+doubt their eyes now. Just before them lay the mangled remains of the
+lame yearling, very little being left to tell the story of how the
+animal had met its fate.
+
+"Wolves!" said Frank, gloomily, as he sat looking down at the torn hide.
+
+"I don't know the signs as well as you, Frank, but I'd say the same from
+general indications. And they had a royal good feast, too. This makes a
+round half dozen head your father has lost in the last month, doesn't
+it?" asked Bob.
+
+"Seven, all told. When Bart Heminway told me he had noticed that one of
+those fine yearlings seemed lame, I wondered if something wasn't going
+to happen to it soon. And then, when we missed it from the herd last
+night, I guessed what had come about. They caught her behind the rest,
+and pulled her down. The poor thing didn't have a ghost of a show
+against that pack of savage wolf-dogs."
+
+"I'd like to have just one chance at them, that's all," grumbled Bob, as
+he let his hand fondle the butt of a modern repeating rifle, which he
+carried fastened to his saddle.
+
+"This is sure the limit, and it's just got to stop!" declared Frank,
+grimly.
+
+"Right now?" queried his chum, eagerly.
+
+Two pairs of flashing eyes met, the black ones sending a challenge
+toward the blue.
+
+"Why not?" said Frank, shutting his jaws hard, "the day is before us
+still; and we're well primed for the business of hunting that pack to
+their den. Look at that bunch of rocks a few miles off; that must be
+where they hang out, Bob! Queer that none of the boys have ever thought
+of hunting in this quarter for that old she-wolf Sallie, and her brood."
+
+"Then you think she did it, do you?" asked Bob.
+
+"Sure she did. You can see for yourself where her jaws closed on the
+throat of the poor yearling. Everybody knows her trademark. That sly
+beast has been the bane of the cattle ranches around here for several
+years. They got to calling her Sallie in fun; but it's been serious
+business lately; and many a cowboy'd ride two hundred miles for a chance
+to knock her over."
+
+"And yet none of the rough riders have even thought to search that rocky
+pile for her den, you say?" Bob continued.
+
+"Why, you see, the killings have always been in other directions," Frank
+explained. "Just as shrewd animals often do, up to now Sallie has never
+pulled down a calf anywhere near her den. I reckon she just knew it
+might cause a search. But this time she's either grown over-bold, or
+else the pack started to do the business in spite of her, and she was
+forced into the game."
+
+"Well, shall we head for that elevation, and see what we can find?"
+asked Bob, who was inclined to be a little impatient.
+
+"Wait a bit. It would be ten times better if we could only track the
+greedy pack direct; but that's a hard proposition, here on the open,"
+Frank observed.
+
+"Well, what can we do then?" his chum asked.
+
+"Perhaps put it in the hands of the best trailer in Arizona," and with a
+laugh Frank pointed off to the left.
+
+The Kentucky boy turned his head in surprise, and then exclaimed:
+
+"Old Hank Coombs, on his pony, as sure as anything! You knew he was
+coming along all the while, and just kept mum. But I'm sure glad to see
+the old cowman right now. And it may turn out to be a day of reckoning
+for that cunning Sallie, and her half grown cubs."
+
+The two lads waved their range hats, and sent out a salute that was
+readily answered by the advancing cowman. Hank Coombs was indeed a
+veteran in the cattle line, having been one of the very first to throw a
+rope, and "mill" stampeding steers in Texas, and farther to the west.
+
+He was an angular old fellow, grim looking in his greasy leather
+"chaps;" but with a twinkle in his eyes that told of the spirit of fun
+that had never been quenched by the passage of time.
+
+"Howdy, boys," he called out, as he drew rein alongside the two lads.
+"What's this here yer lookin' at? Another dead calf? No, I swan if it
+ain't a yearling as has been pulled down now. Things seem t' be gittin'
+t' a warm pass when sech doin' air allowed. Huh! an' it looks like
+Sallie's work, too! That sly ole critter is goin' t' git t' the end of
+her rope some fine day."
+
+"Why not to-day, Hank?" demanded Frank, briskly.
+
+The veteran grinned, as though he had half anticipated having such a
+question asked.
+
+"So, that's the way the wind blows, hey?" he remarked, slowly; and then
+he nodded his small head approvingly. "Jest as you say, Frank, thar's no
+time like the present t' do things. The hull pack hes been here, I see,
+an' no matter how cunning old Sallie allers shows herself, a chain's
+only as strong as th' weakest link. One of her cubs will sure leave
+tracks we kin foller. All right, boys count on me t' back ye up. I'll go
+wharever ye say, Frank."
+
+"We'll follow the trail, if there is one," said Frank, instantly; "but
+the chances are that's where we'll bring up," and he pointed with his
+quirt in the direction of the rocky uplift that stood like a landmark
+in the midst of the great level sea of purple sage brush, marking the
+plain.
+
+After one good look the cowman nodded his head again in the affirmative.
+
+"Reckon as how y'r' right, Frank," he remarked; "but we'll see how the
+trail heads."
+
+Throwing himself from his saddle he bent down over the remains of the
+yearling that had been so unfortunate as to become lame, and thus,
+lagging far behind the rest of the herd, fallen a victim to the wolf
+pack.
+
+"Easy as fallin' off a log," announced old Hank, immediately. "Jest as I
+was sayin', thar's nearly allers one clumsy cub as don't hev half sense;
+an' I kin foller this trail on horseback, 'pears to me."
+
+He ran it out a little way; then, once more mounting, went on ahead,
+with his keen eyes fastened on the ground.
+
+Bob watched his actions with the greatest of interest. He knew Old Hank
+was discovering a dozen signs that would be utterly invisible to one who
+had not had many years of practice in tracking both wild animals and
+human beings.
+
+Now and then the trailer would draw in his horse, as though desirous of
+looking more carefully at the ground. Twice he even dropped off and bent
+low, to make positive his belief.
+
+"I reckon you were right, Frank," remarked Bob, after half an hour of
+this sort of travel "because, you see, even if the trail did lead away
+from the rocks at first, it's heading that way now on a straight line."
+
+"Thet was only the cuteness of the ole wolf," said Hank. "She's up t'
+all the dodges goin'. But that comes a day of reckonin' for all her
+kind; an' her's orter be showin' up right soon."
+
+When another half hour passed the three riders had reached the border of
+the strange pile of rocks. And as Frank looked up at the rough heap,
+with its many crevices and angles, he considered that it certainly must
+offer an ideal den to any wild beast wishing to hide through the
+daytime, and prowl forth when darkness and night lay upon the land.
+
+"Here's whar the trail ends at the rocks," said Hank, as he dismounted
+and threw the bridle over the head of his horse, cowboy fashion, knowing
+that under ordinary conditions the animal would remain there, just as if
+hobbled, or staked out.
+
+Both of the saddle boys followed his example, and, holding their rifles
+ready, prepared to search the rocks for some trace of the wolf den. Wild
+animals may be very cunning about locating their retreat in a place
+where it will be hidden from the eye of a casual passer; but, in course
+of time, they cannot prevent signs from accumulating, calculated to
+betray its presence to one who is keenly on the watch.
+
+The three searchers had not been moving back and forth among the piles
+of rocks more than ten minutes when Old Hank was observed to raise his
+head, smile, and sniff the air with more or less eagerness.
+
+"Must be close by, boys," he said, positively. "I kin git the rank odor
+that allers hangs 'round the den of wild animals as brings meat home,
+an' leaves the bones. The air is a-comin' from that quarter, an' chances
+are we'll find the hole sumwhar over yonder."
+
+"I think I see it," said Frank, eagerly. "Just above that little spur
+there's a black looking crevice in the rock."
+
+"As dark as my hat," added Hank; "an' I reckon as how that's whar Sallie
+lives when she's t' home. Now t' invite ourselves int' her leetle
+parlor, boys!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+RIDDING THE RANGE OF A PEST
+
+
+"Well, what do you think now, Frank?" asked Bob, as they stood in front
+of that gloomy looking crevice, and observed the marks of many claws
+upon the discolored rock, where hairy bodies had drawn themselves along
+countless times.
+
+"I'm wondering," the other replied; "what ails our boys at the ranch
+never to have suspected that old Sallie had her den, and raised her
+broods, so close to the Circle Ranch. Why, right now we're not more'n
+ten miles, as the crow flies, away from home. And for years this
+terrible she-wolf has lived on the calves and partly grown animals
+belonging to cattlemen in this neck of the land. It makes me tired to
+think of it!"
+
+"But Frank, it's a long lane that has no turning," remarked Bob; "and
+just now we've got to the bend. Sallie has invited her fate once too
+often. That lame yearling is going to spell her finish, if Old Hank here
+has his way."
+
+"It sure is," agreed Frank. "And when we get back home with the hide of
+that old pest fastened to a saddle, the boys will be some sore to think
+how anyone of the lot might have done the job, if they'd only turned
+this way."
+
+"But what's Hank going to do?" asked the Kentucky boy, watching the
+veteran cow-puncher searching on the ground under a stunted pinon tree
+that chanced to grow where there was a small bit of soil among the
+rocks.
+
+"I don't know for a dead certainty," replied the other; "but I rather
+think he's picking up some pieces of wood that might make good torches."
+
+"Whew! then he means that we're to go into the cave, and get our
+game--is that it, Frank?" demanded the other, unconsciously tightening
+his grip on his rifle, as he glanced once more toward that yawning
+crevice, leading to unknown depths, where the wolf pack lurked during
+the daytime to issue forth when night came around.
+
+"That would be just like the old chap, for he knows nothing of fear,"
+Frank replied; "but of course there's no necessity for _both_ of us to
+go with him. One might remain here, so as to knock over any stray beast
+that managed to escape the attention of those who went in."
+
+"All right; where will you take up your stand, Frank?" asked Bob,
+instantly; at which his chum laughed, as though tickled.
+
+"So you think I'd consent to stay out here tamely, while you two were
+having a regular circus in there?" he remarked. "That would never suit
+me. And it's easy to see that you count on a ticket of admission to
+Sallie's parlor, too. Well, then, we'll all go, and share in the danger,
+as well as the sport. For to rid the range country of this pest I
+consider the greatest favor under the sun. But there comes Hank with a
+bundle of torches under his arm."
+
+"We're off, then!" chuckled Bob.
+
+"Make sure o' yer guns, lads," said the cowman, as he came up; "because,
+in a case like this, when ye want t' shoot it's apt t' be in a hurry.
+An' anybody as knows what a fierce critter ole Sallie is, kin tell ye
+it'll take an ounce of lead, put in the right place, t' down her fur
+keeps."
+
+"I'm ready," Frank assured the old hunter.
+
+"Then, jest as soon's I kin git this flare goin' we'll push in." Hank
+announced.
+
+"Will we be able to see the game with such a poor light?" asked Bob, a
+trifle nervously, as his mind went back to school days, to remember what
+he had read of that old Revolutionary patriot, Israel Putnam, entering a
+wolf's den alone, and killing the beast in open fight; truth to tell Bob
+had never seen a real den in which wild beasts hid from the sun; and
+imagination doubled its perils in his mind.
+
+"Fust thing ye see'll be some yaller eyes starin' at ye outen the
+dark," said Hank, obligingly. "Then, when I gives the word, both of ye
+let go, aimin' direct atween the yaller spots."
+
+"But what if we miss, and the beast attacks us?" Bob went on, wishing to
+be thoroughly posted before venturing into that hole.
+
+"In case of a mix-up," the veteran went on; "every feller is for
+hisself; only, recerlect thar mustn't be any shootin' at close quarters.
+Use yer knives, or else swat her over the head with yer clubbed guns.
+We're bound t' git Sallie this time, by hook er by crook! Ready, son?"
+
+Both boys declared that they had no reason for delaying matters. Since
+it had been decided as best to invade the wolf den, the sooner they
+started, the better.
+
+True, Bob thought that had it been left to him, he would have first
+tried to smoke out the occupants of the cleft, waiting near by to shoot
+them down as they rushed out of the depths. But then Hank was directing
+matters now, and whatever he said must be done.
+
+Besides, Hank had known wolves ever since he first "toted" a gun, now
+more than fifty-five years ago. Perhaps he understood how difficult it
+is to smoke out a pack of wolves, that invariably seek a cave with a
+depth sufficient to get away from all the influences of the smudge.
+
+Without the slightest hesitation Old Hank got down on hands and knees,
+and began to crawl into the gaping mouth of the crevice.
+
+It did not go straight in, but seemed to twist around more or less. All
+the while the two boys kept close at the heels of the guide who carried
+that flaring torch. They watched ahead to detect the first sign of the
+enemy; and had their ears on the alert with the same idea in view.
+
+Stronger grew the odor that invariably marks the den of carnivorous
+animals.
+
+"We ought to stir her up soon now, Frank," whispered Bob, on whom the
+strain was bearing hard, since he was not used to anything of this sort.
+
+"Yes, unless the sly old beast has a back door to her home; how about
+that, Hank?" asked the cattleman's son.
+
+"Don't reckon as how it's so," came the ready response. "In thet event,
+we'd feel a breath of fresh air; an' ye knows as how we don't. Stiddy
+boys, keep yer wits about ye! She's clost by, now!"
+
+"I heard a growl!" admitted Bob.
+
+"And there were whines too, from the half grown cubs," ventured Frank.
+
+"Once we turn this bend just ahead, likely enough we'll be in the mess,"
+Bob remarked.
+
+"Range on both sides of me, boys," directed Hank, halting, so that they
+could overtake him; because he knew full well that the crisis of this
+bold invasion of the she-wolf's den was near at hand.
+
+In this fashion, then, the three turned the rocky corner.
+
+"I see the yellow eyes!" whispered Bob, beginning to bring his gun-stock
+nearer to his shoulder. "Say, there's a whole raft of 'em, Frank!"
+
+"Sure," came the quick reply, close to his ear. "Hank said there was
+about five of the brood. Hold your fire, Bob. Pick out the mother wolf
+first."
+
+"That's what I want to do; but how can I make sure?" demanded the
+Kentucky lad, trying his best to keep his hands from trembling with
+excitement.
+
+He had sunk down upon one knee. This allowed him to rest his elbow on
+the knee that was in position, always a favorite attitude with Bob when
+using a rifle.
+
+"Take the eyes that are above all the rest, and which seem so much
+larger and fiercer. Are you on, Bob?" continued the other, who was also
+handling his gun with all the eagerness of a sportsman.
+
+"Yes," came the firm reply.
+
+"Then let her go!"
+
+The last word was drowned in a terrific roar, for when a gun is fired
+in confined space the din is tremendous. Even as he pulled the trigger
+Bob knew that luck was against him; for the animal had moved at a time
+when he could not delay the pressure of his finger.
+
+He heard a second report close beside him. Frank had also fired,
+realizing what had occurred, and that in all probability the first
+bullet would only wound the savage beast, without putting an end to her
+activities.
+
+The torch went sputtering to the floor of the cave, having been knocked
+from the hand of Hank when the wolf struck him heavily. He could be
+heard trying to rescue it before it went completely out, all the while
+letting off a volley of whoops and directions.
+
+Fortunately Frank had kept his wits about him. And his rifle was still
+gripped firmly in his hands, he having instantly pumped a new cartridge
+into the chamber after firing. The half grown cubs showed an inclination
+to follow their mother in her headlong attack on the human invaders of
+the den; for the numerous gleaming pairs of eyes were undoubtedly
+advancing when Frank turned his gun loose on them.
+
+The din was simply terrific. Bob was more concerned with the possibility
+of an attack from the ferocious mother wolf then anything else. He had
+lost track of her after that first furious rush, and crouching there,
+was trying the best he knew how to locate the creature again.
+
+Meanwhile Old Hank had succeeded in picking up the torch, which, being
+held in an upright position, began to shed a fair amount of light once
+more.
+
+Not seeing anything else at which he could fire, Bob now started in to
+assist his chum get rid of the ugly whelps that were advancing,
+growling, snarling, and in various other ways proving how they had
+inherited the fearless nature of the beast that had nursed them in that
+den.
+
+Perhaps it was all one-sided, since the animals never had a chance to
+get in touch with the invaders. Neither of the boys ever felt very proud
+of the work; but in view of the tremendous amount of damage a pack of
+hungry wolves can do on a cattle ranch, or in a sheepfold, they had no
+scruples concerning the matter. Besides, every one along the Arizona
+border hated a wolf almost as badly as they did a cowardly coyote; for
+while the former may be bolder than the beast that slinks across the
+desert looking for carrion, its capacity for mischief is a good many
+times as great.
+
+"I don't see any more eyes, Frank!" called out Bob, presently, as he
+tried to penetrate the cloud of powder-smoke that surrounded both of
+them.
+
+"That's because we got 'em all, I reckon," replied his chum. "How about
+that, Hank?"
+
+"Cleaned the hull brood out, son," replied the other, chuckling; "an' no
+mistake about it either."
+
+"But where did the big one go to; has she escaped after all?" asked Bob,
+with a note of regret in his voice; for he thought the blame would be
+placed on him, for having made a poor shot when he had such a splendid
+chance to finish the animal.
+
+"Oh! I wouldn't worry myself about her, Bob," chuckled Frank, who had
+already made a discovery; and as he spoke he pointed to a spot close by,
+where, huddled in a heap, lay the heavy body of the fiercest cattle
+thief known for years along the border.
+
+"She was mortally hurted by the fust shot," said Hank, as they stood
+over the gaunt animal, and surveyed her proportions with almost a touch
+of awe; "but seemed like the critter had enough strength left t' make
+thet leap, as nigh knocked me flat. Then she jest keeled over, an' guv
+up the ghost. Arter this the young heifers kin stray away from their
+mother's sides, without bein' dragged off. Thar'll be a vote o' thanks
+sent ter ye, Bob, from every ranch inside of fifty mile, 'cause of what
+ye did when ye pulled trigger this day."
+
+Hank, being an experienced worker, did not take very long to secure the
+pelt of the dead terror of the desert. Then they left the rocks, finding
+their horses just where they had left them.
+
+All of the animals showed signs of alarm when they scented the skin of
+the wolf; and Domino in particular pranced and snorted at a great rate
+since his education had been neglected in this particular. So Hank,
+having the best trained steed in the bunch, insisted on carrying the
+pelt with him on their return trip to the ranch.
+
+Ten miles, as the crow flies, and they would be at home; and with
+comparatively fresh steeds, that should not count for more than an
+hour's gallop.
+
+Before they had gone three miles, however, Bob called the attention of
+his chum to a horseman who was galloping toward them. It was a cowboy,
+and he waved his broad-brimmed hat over his head as he came sweeping
+forward.
+
+"Is he doing stunts; or does he want us?" asked Bob.
+
+"It's Ted Conway," replied Frank, with a sudden look of anxiety; "one of
+the steadiest boys at the ranch; and he acts as if something had
+happened at home!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE FLOATING BOTTLE
+
+
+Waving his hat after the extravagant manner of his kind, the cowboy
+swept constantly nearer the little party. Indeed, it was impossible for
+them to guess whether Ted Conway bore a message, or was simply delighted
+to see the son of his employer, and his chum.
+
+Presently he reached the constantly advancing trio, and under the pull
+of the reins his pony reared upon its hind legs.
+
+"What's wrong, Ted?" asked Frank, immediately.
+
+"Wanted at the ranch, Frank," came the answer. "The boss has sent me out
+to look you up on the jump. Told me as how you started out on a gallop
+this way, an' I took chances. Reckon I was some lucky to strike you so
+easy."
+
+"But what has happened, Ted?" insisted the boy, trying to read the
+bronzed face of the other, and get a hint as to whether his mission
+verged on the serious or not.
+
+It was so very unusual for Colonel Haywood to send anyone out to find
+him, that Frank's suspicions were naturally aroused.
+
+"Well, the Colonel had a little tumble with that game leg of his--same
+one that the steer fell on, and broke two years back, in the big
+round-up--" began the cowboy, when Frank interrupted him.
+
+"Then he must have been seriously hurt this time, or he wouldn't send
+you out for me. Tell me the worst, Ted; you ought to realize that it's
+better for me to know it all in the start, than by degrees. Is my father
+dead?"
+
+"No. Last I seen of the Colonel, he was a real live man; only he had his
+leg done up agin in splints; an' the ole doc. from the Arrowhead Ranch
+was thar, 'tending to him. No, it ain't on count of his leetle trouble
+with that leg that made him send me out huntin' for you, Frank."
+
+"What then?" demanded the boy, curtly; but with a sigh of relief, for
+his father was very dear to him.
+
+"Thar come a messenger to the ranch a while ago, an' somethin' he
+fetched along with him, 'peared to excite the boss right from the word
+go," Ted admitted.
+
+"A messenger, Ted?" the boy echoed, wonderingly.
+
+"Never seen him afore, an' think he kim from town," the new arrival went
+on to say. "Leastwise, he looked like a stray maverick, an' had a
+b'iled shirt, with a collar that I reckoned sure would choke him. Atween
+you an' me I tried to get him to chuck the same; but he only grinned,
+an' allowed he could stand it."
+
+"Oh! a messenger from town, was it?" said Frank, with a relieved look.
+"Then the chances are it must have been some business connected with a
+shipment of cattle. Perhaps the railroad has had a bad wreck, and wants
+to settle for that last bunch we sent away."
+
+But Ted shook his head in the negative.
+
+"'T'wan't no railroad man; that I know," he affirmed, positively.
+"'Sides, the boss was holdin' of a bottle in his hand, an' seemed to set
+a heap of store by it."
+
+"A bottle, Ted?" cried Frank, deeply interested.
+
+"That's what," replied the cowboy, energetically. "But jest why he
+should reckon such a thing wuth shucks I can't tell ye. But he sent me
+out to bring you back to the ranch house like two-forty. I seen that he
+was plumb locoed, and some excited by the news, whatever it might be."
+
+Frank looked at his chum in a puzzled way, and shook his head.
+
+"I don't seem able to make head or tail of this business, Bob," he
+remarked; "but there's only one thing to be done, and that's to romp
+home on the gallop. So away we go with a rush. Who's after me! Hi! get
+long, Buckskin! It's a race for a treat of oats as a prize! Here you
+are, Bob; hit up the pace!"
+
+With the words Frank gave his horse free rein, and went tearing over the
+level plain, headed as straight for the distant ranch as though he were
+a bird far up in the clear air, and could see to make a direct line "as
+the crow flies!"
+
+And after a time, in the distance, they saw the whitewashed outbuildings
+of Circle Ranch. Frank never viewed the familiar and dearly loved scene
+with more anxiety than he did now; but so far as he could see there did
+not appear to be anything out of the ordinary taking place around the
+ranch house.
+
+"Looks all right, Bob!" exclaimed Frank, as though a great load had been
+taken from his heart.
+
+The sudden coming of Ted Conway, with that queer message that meant a
+hurried return, had mystified the boy not a little. But he knew that all
+would soon be made plain now, since they were nearly home.
+
+Dashing up in front of the house, the two lads jumped to the ground
+almost before their mounts had come to a halt. The door was open, and
+Frank led the way in a headlong rush.
+
+As they entered he saw his father seated in his comfortable easy-chair,
+with that unfortunate leg, that had given him more or less trouble for
+two years now, propped on another seat, and bound up.
+
+There was a stranger with him, but no sign of the Arrowhead Ranch cowboy
+doctor; which would indicate that, having done his duty, the roving
+physician and bone-setter had returned to his regular business, which
+was roping and branding cattle.
+
+Colonel Haywood was a man in the prime of life. Up to the time that
+clumsy steer had broken his leg he had been most active; but since then
+he had not been able to get around on his feet so well, though able to
+ride fairly comfortably.
+
+"Hello! Frank, my boy!" he exclaimed, as the two came rushing in. "So
+Ted managed to round you up in great style; did he? Well, I always said
+Ted was the sharpest fellow on the range when it came to finding things.
+Where have you been to-day?"
+
+"Doing a little missionary work for the country," replied Frank,
+smiling. "We came across that lame pet yearling, the dun-colored one you
+thought so much of; and there was mighty little left of the poor beast
+but a torn hide, not worth lifting."
+
+"Huh! wolves again!" exclaimed the stock-raiser, with a frown.
+
+"Sure thing, sir," Frank went on. "We saw a heap of signs that told us
+our old friend, Sallie, with the broken tooth, had been on the job
+again. But that was the last of our beef the old lady'll ever taste, or
+anybody else's, for that matter."
+
+"What's that? Did you sight her, and get a shot?" demanded the pleased
+rancher, forgetting his broken leg in his excitement, and making a
+movement that immediately caused him to give a grunt, and settle back
+again.
+
+"Old Hank happened to run across our trail just then," Frank continued;
+"and we made up our minds to track the beast to her lair. Where do you
+suppose we found it, dad, but in the big bunch of rocks that lies about
+ten miles to the west?"
+
+"You surprise me; but go on, tell me the rest, and then I'm going to let
+you in on something that will open your eyes a little," remarked the
+stockman.
+
+"Oh! there isn't much more to tell, dad," the boy hastened to say, for
+he was eager to learn what all this mystery meant. "We found the
+opening, easy enough, and made up our minds to crawl in after Sallie,
+the whole three of us. So Hank picked up some wood for a flare, and in
+we went."
+
+"And you found her home? You met with a warm reception, I warrant!" the
+other exclaimed, his eyes kindling with pride as he saw the quiet,
+confident air with which Frank rattled off his story.
+
+"Sallie was in, ditto five of her half-grown brood, and all full of
+fight," the boy continued. "But of course they didn't have a ghost of a
+show against our two repeating rifles. Hank held the torch, and Bob
+fired first. Then the brute jumped, and nearly got Hank, who lost the
+flare for a few seconds. We keeled over the ugly whelps as they started
+for us; and later on found old Sallie, just as she had dropped. That big
+jump was her last."
+
+"Well, I'm glad to hear that, son," declared the rancher, who had
+suffered long and seriously from the depredations of that sly animal and
+her various broods, despite all efforts to locate her, and put an end to
+her attacks.
+
+"I'm glad you're pleased with what we did," Frank remarked.
+
+"It will mean a lot to all honest ranchmen in this section," continued
+the cattleman. "With Sallie gone, we can hope to raise a record herd the
+coming season, without keeping men constantly on the watch, day and
+night, for a slinking thief that defied our best efforts. Shake hands,
+Bob, and let me congratulate you on making the shot that ended the
+loping of the worst pest this country has known in five years."
+
+"But when Ted came whirling along, shouting, and waving his hat, to tell
+us you wanted me back home on the jump, it gave me a bad feeling, dad;
+especially when I heard that you'd gone and hurt that leg again!" Frank
+cried, as he, too, seized the other hand of his father, and squeezed it
+affectionately.
+
+"But I told Ted to be sure and let you know that it was not on account
+of my new upset that I wanted you back," declared the ranchman,
+frowning.
+
+"Yes, he delivered the message all right, dad; but all the same I was
+bothered a heap, let me tell you," Frank went on. "And now, please, tell
+us what it's all about; won't you; and what this gentleman has to do
+with it; also the bottle Ted said you were handling?"
+
+At that Colonel Haywood smiled, and looked up at the stranger.
+
+"This is a Mr. Hinchman, Frank," he remarked. "He lives in a small place
+on the great Colorado River called Mohave City. And one day, not long
+ago, a man who was fishing on the river at a place where an eddy set in,
+found a curious bottle floating, that was sealed with red wax on the
+top, and seemed to contain only a piece of paper. This is the bottle,"
+and as he spoke he opened a drawer of the desk, and drew out the flask
+in question.
+
+Frank took it, and turned it around. So far as he could see it was an
+ordinary bottle. It contained no cork, but there were signs of sealing
+wax around the top.
+
+"Mr. Hinchman, is, I believe," the ranchman went on, "though he has been
+too modest to say so himself, a gentleman of some importance in Mohave
+City, which accounted for the fisherman fetching his queer find to him.
+The bottle had evidently come down the great river, perhaps for one or
+two hundred miles, escaping destruction from contact with rocks in a
+marvelous manner, and finally falling into the hands of one who had both
+the time and the curiosity to examine its sealed contents."
+
+Colonel Haywood thereupon took up a small piece of paper from the pad of
+the desk.
+
+"This is what he found in the bottle, Frank," continued the stockman.
+"It bore my address, and the name of my ranch here; so thinking that it
+might be something more than a practical joke he concluded to journey
+all the way across the country to see me. It was a mighty nice thing for
+Mr. Hinchman to do, and something I am not apt to forget in a hurry,
+either."
+
+"Then the paper interested you, dad, it seems?" Frank remarked, eagerly.
+
+"It certainly did, son, and I rather think you will feel the same as I
+did when I tell you whose name is written at the bottom of this little
+communication," the cattleman went on.
+
+"All right, I'm ready to hear it," Frank remarked, laughingly.
+
+"Felix Oswald!" replied his father, quickly.
+
+The boy was indeed intensely surprised, if one could judge from his
+manner.
+
+"Your Uncle Felix, dad, who has been gone these three years, and whose
+mysterious disappearance set the whole scientific world guessing. And
+you say his name is there, signed to that paper found in the sealed
+bottle? Well, you sure have given me a surprise. Then he's still alive?"
+
+"He seemed to be when he wrote this," the cattleman said, reflectively;
+"but as he failed to put any date on it, we can only guess how long the
+bottle has been cruising down the Colorado, sucked into eddies that
+might hold it for weeks or months, until a rise in the river sent it
+forth again."
+
+"Say, doesn't that beat everything you ever heard of, Bob?" declared
+Frank, turning to his chum.
+
+"It certainly does," replied Bob, and then the ranchman's boy continued:
+
+"Perhaps you remember me telling you some things about this queer old
+uncle of dad's, Bob, and how, after he had made a name for himself, he
+suddenly vanished in a night, leaving word behind that he was going to
+study the biggest subject any man could ever tackle. And as he didn't
+want to be bothered, he said he would leave no address behind. They've
+looked for him all over Europe, Asia and Africa, but he was never heard
+from again. And now to think that he's sent word to dad; and in a sealed
+bottle too!"
+
+"That looks as if he must be somewhere on the Colorado River, don't it?"
+suggested Bob.
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied the stockman; "in fact, in this brief
+communication he admits that he is located somewhere along the Grand
+Canyon, in a place where travelers have as yet never penetrated. I can
+only guess that Uncle Felix must have been seized with a desire to
+unearth treasures that might tell the history of those strange old cliff
+dwellers, who occupied much of that country as long as eight hundred
+years ago. All he mentions about his hiding place is to call it Echo
+Cave. You never heard of such a place, did you, Mr. Hinchman; and you've
+lived on the lower river many years?"
+
+"I never did, Colonel," replied the man from Mohave City; "and perhaps
+few people have climbed through that wonderful gash in the surface of
+the Arizona desert as many times as I have."
+
+"In this brief note," continued Colonel Haywood, "Uncle Felix simply
+says that he has become aware of the passage of time; and since his
+labors are not yet completed, and he does not wish to allow his friends
+to believe him dead, he has concluded to communicate with me, his
+nephew. And as he knew of no other way of doing so, he resorted to the
+artifice of the floating bottle."
+
+"Mighty considerate of him, that's sure," chuckled Frank. "Been gone now
+two or three years, and suddenly remembers that there are people who
+might worry about his dropping out of sight."
+
+"But son," remarked the stockman, "don't forget that Uncle Felix is
+wrapped up in his profession, and cares very little about the ties of
+this world. I know him well enough for that. But it happens, singularly
+enough, that just now it is of the greatest importance he should be
+found, and communicated with. I would undertake the task myself, only
+for this unfortunate break that is bound to keep me laid up for another
+month or two. The doctor set my leg afresh, and tells me that this time
+I will really get perfectly well, given time. But it's hard to think
+that my cousin Janice, his only child, will lose so great a sum if some
+one fails to locate Uncle Felix, and get his signature to a paper inside
+of another month."
+
+"Why, how is that, father?" asked Frank.
+
+"Circumstances have arisen that will throw a fortune into her hands;"
+the stockman continued; "but the time limit approaches, and if his
+signature is not forthcoming others will reap the benefit, particularly
+that rascally cousin of mine, Eugene Warringford. You remember meeting
+him a year ago, Frank, when he came around asking many questions, as
+though he might have tracked his uncle out this way, and then lost the
+trail?"
+
+"Why not send us, dad?" demanded Frank, standing up in front of the
+stockman, with a smile of confidence on his face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE LISTENER UNDER THE WINDOW
+
+
+"That was what I had in mind, Frank, when I hurried Ted Conway out to
+find you both," Colonel Haywood remarked, his face filled with pride and
+confidence.
+
+"Will you let me see the note, please?" asked Bob; who expected some day
+to study to be a lawyer, his father's family having had several Kentucky
+judges among their number.
+
+Just as the owner of the ranch had said, the communication was
+exceedingly brief, and to the point, not an unnecessary word having been
+written. It was in pencil, and the handwriting was crabbed; just what
+one might expect of an elderly man, given over heart and soul to
+scientific research.
+
+"I suppose you know the writing well enough to feel sure this came from
+your noted uncle, sir?" asked Bob, as he turned the paper over.
+
+"Certainly, Bob," replied the cattleman, promptly. "There is not the
+least possibility of it's being a practical joke. Nobody out here knows
+anything about my uncle, who disappeared so long ago. Yes, you can set
+it down as positive that the letter is genuine enough. He's located
+somewhere up in that most astonishing hole, the greatest wonder, most
+people admit, in the entire world. But just how you two boys are ever
+going to find him is another question."
+
+"We can try, dad; and that's all you could do if you were able to tramp.
+It happens that the Grand Canyon isn't more than a hundred and thirty
+miles from our ranch here, and we can ride that in a few days. How do
+you feel about it, Bob?"
+
+"Nothing would please me better," replied the other boy, quickly, his
+face lighting up with delight at the prospect of a long ride in the
+saddle, to be followed by days, and perhaps weeks, of roaming through
+that wonderland, where Nature had outdone all her other works in trying
+to heap up astonishing surprises.
+
+"So far as I'm concerned," Frank went on, "I've always wanted to visit
+the Grand Canyon, and meant to do it some day later on. Of course I've
+seen what the little Colorado has to show, because it's only a long
+day's ride off. Mr. Hinchman can, I reckon, give us some points about
+the place, and maybe even mention several smaller canyons where we might
+be likely to find Uncle Felix in Echo Cave."
+
+"Which I'll be only too happy to attempt," answered the gentleman from
+Mohave City; "and as I said before, I know considerable about the
+mysteries of the big hole in the desert, all of which is at your
+service. Somehow, the queer way that message in the floating bottle came
+to me, excited my curiosity; and I'll be satisfied if I can only have a
+hand in the finding of the noted gentleman who, as your father has been
+telling me, vanished in the midst of his fame."
+
+"And now, dad, please explain just what we are to do in case luck
+follows us in our hunt, and we run across the professor," said Frank.
+
+"You are to explain to him that the long option which he held on that
+San Bernardino mine will expire in one more month. The work had been
+going on in a listless way for three years. All at once some time back
+they struck a wonderfully rich lode, and vein has been followed far
+enough to show that it is bound to be a record breaker."
+
+"That sounds great!" declared the deeply interested Bob.
+
+"The mine couldn't be bought for a million to-day," continued the
+stockman; "and yet Uncle Felix is probably carrying around with him (for
+it couldn't be found at his home) a little legal document whereby it
+will become his sole property in case he chooses to plank down the
+modest sum of twenty thousand dollars by the thirtieth of next month!"
+
+"Whew! that's going some, eh, Bob?" exclaimed Frank, with a little
+whistle that accentuated his surprise.
+
+"Then if we are fortunate enough to find Uncle Felix before that time
+has expired, what shall we do, sir?" asked the precise Bob, who was
+always keeping an eye out for the legal aspect of things.
+
+"Coax him to accompany you to the nearest notary public, where he can
+sign his acceptance of the terms under which he holds the option on the
+San Bernardino. But if this happens after the thirtieth it is all wasted
+energy; for at midnight of that day, I happen to know, the option
+expires," the ranchman continued, somewhat impressively.
+
+Just as he finished speaking he suddenly turned toward the window, at
+which his keen vision had caught sight of a moving shadow, as though
+someone might have been crouching without, and listening.
+
+"Who is there at the window?" he called out, sternly.
+
+All eyes were turned that way. After several seconds had passed a figure
+rose up, and a head was thrust through the opening. It belonged to a
+dark-faced cow-puncher, named Abajo, who was supposed to be a half-breed
+Mexican. Although never a favorite with the owner of the Circle Ranch,
+Abajo was a first-class handler of the rope, and could ride a horse as
+well as anyone. He had been employed by Colonel Haywood for half a year.
+He talked "United States," as Frank was used to saying, as well as the
+average cowman. But Frank had never liked the fellow. There seemed
+something crafty in his ways that was foreign to the make-up of the boy.
+
+"It's only me, boss," said Abajo, with an attempt at a grin. "I wanted
+to ask you about that job you set me on yesterday. I took Pete along,
+and we found the lost bunch of stock in a valley ten mile away from
+Thunder Mountain in the Fox Canyon country. Got 'em all safe in but
+seven. Never seen hair nor hide of them; but after gettin' back it
+struck me there was one place they might a strayed to that we didn't
+look up. If so be you say the word I'll pick up Pete again, and make
+another try."
+
+"Why, of course you had better go, Abajo," remarked the stockman,
+looking keenly at the other, for he did not like the way in which the
+half-breed had been apparently loitering under that open window, as
+though listening to all that was passing in the room beyond. "I told you
+not to draw rein till you'd found all the missing stock; or knew what
+had become of them. That's all, Abajo."
+
+The Mexican cowboy hurried away. A minute later and they heard him
+shouting to Pete; and then the clatter of horses' hoofs told that the
+pair were galloping wildly across the open.
+
+"I wonder how much he heard?" said Frank; from which it would appear
+that he also suspected the other of having spied upon them for some
+purpose.
+
+"Much good it could have done him, even if he caught all we said,"
+replied his father. "Because, of course, he doesn't know anything about
+Uncle Felix; and couldn't be interested in whether he is living or
+dead."
+
+"No," remarked Mr. Hinchman, "but the mention of a mine going a-begging
+that is worth a comfortable fortune, like a million or two, would
+interest Abajo. I know his type pretty well, and you can rest assured
+that they're always on the lookout for easy money."
+
+"But didn't it strike you, dad," ventured Frank, "that his excuse for
+being under that window was silly?"
+
+"Yes, because Abajo has always been able to understand, without asking
+what he should do under such conditions. He wanted some excuse for
+drawing near the open window, and he found it. Perhaps he's heard
+something about the coming of Mr. Hinchman here, and the queer finding
+of the bottle that floated down the Colorado for one or two hundred
+miles. I spoke to the foreman, Bart Heminway, about it."
+
+"When would you want us to make a start?" asked Bob, looking as though
+he might be ready to jump into his saddle then and there.
+
+"Oh! there is no such rushing hurry as all that," replied the cattleman,
+laughing at the eagerness of the two lads. "Your horses are a bit off,
+just now, and after all that fight in the wolf den you boys need a
+rest."
+
+"But when do we start?" asked Frank.
+
+"Suppose you get ready to move in the morning," Colonel Haywood replied,
+after reflecting a moment. "That will give me time to write a letter to
+Uncle Felix, so that you can deliver it, if you're lucky enough to find
+his Echo Cave; and at the same time you can make up your packs; for you
+will need blankets, and plenty of grub along."
+
+"Well, I reckon you're right, dad," admitted Frank; "only it seems as if
+we might be losing valuable time. All the same we're going to do just
+what you say. Now, if you haven't anything more to tell us, we'll just
+skip out, and begin looking up some of the supplies for our campaign in
+the Grand Canyon."
+
+"Get along with you, then," laughed the ranchman. "I want to ask Mr.
+Hinchman a few more questions that have occurred to me since you came
+home. And, boys, grub will be ready in a short time, now, for there's Ah
+Sin stepping to the door every little while, to look around and see if
+the boys are in sight. You know what that sign means."
+
+Frank and his chum went off, to make out a list of things they would
+take along with them on the strange expedition upon which they were
+about to start on the following morning.
+
+"What do you think of that slippery customer, Abajo?" Bob asked his
+chum, as the afternoon waned, and they were sitting on the long porch of
+the ranch house.
+
+"I've never liked him ever since he came here; but dad was in need of
+help, and the half-breed certainly knows his business to a dot," replied
+Frank, who was examining the new girth his chum had attached to his
+saddle, mentally deciding that whatever the young Kentuckian attempted,
+he did neatly and well.
+
+"Didn't I hear something about his being a relative to that Spanish Joe
+who gave us so much trouble a little while back, on Thunder Mountain?"
+Bob continued.
+
+"Well, I couldn't say for sure, but some say he is a nephew," Frank
+answered. "Both of them have Mexican blood in their veins; and, when you
+come to think of it, there is some resemblance in their faces."
+
+"But do you really think Abajo was listening?" the other asked.
+
+"It looked like it; that's as far as I've got," laughed Frank.
+
+"But," Bob protested, "even if he knew that there was a big fortune
+connected with the paper this queer old professor carries on his person,
+what good would that do Abajo?"
+
+Frank shrugged his broad shoulders as he replied:
+
+"Well, you never can tell what crazy notions some of these schemers
+after a fortune will hatch up. He might make up his mind to start a
+little hunt for the hermit of Echo Cave on his own hook; with the idea
+of getting a transfer of that valuable paper."
+
+"That's a fact!" declared Bob, looking interested. "Perhaps, after all,
+we won't have our work cut out for us as easy as we thought."
+
+"Small difference that will make," Frank went on, with a shutting of his
+teeth that told of the spirit animating the boy when difficulties hove
+in sight.
+
+"I agree with you, all right, Frank," his companion remarked. "And
+perhaps it'll only make the hunt all the more interesting if we believe
+we've got opposition. You know how it was when Peg Grant threw his hat
+in the ring, and tried to find out what made those queer sounds in the
+heart of Thunder Mountain?"
+
+"Sure I do," came the quick reply. "It stirred us up to doing bigger
+stunts than if we'd thought we had it all our own way. Nothing like
+competition to get the best out of any fellow."
+
+"Correct you are, Frank. But speaking of Abajo, perhaps that's him
+coming back now," and as he spoke the Kentucky boy pointed across to a
+point where a single rider could be seen heading for the ranch house.
+
+He was still far away, but the eyes of Frank Haywood were very keen.
+Besides, he knew the "style" of every cowboy who was in the employ of
+his father, and was able to pick them out almost as far as he could see
+them.
+
+"You're away off there, Bob," he remarked quietly.
+
+"Then it isn't the half-breed?" asked his chum.
+
+"I know the way that chap sits in the saddle," came the reply. "Only one
+man on the pay roll of Circle Ranch holds himself that way. It's Pete."
+
+"Pete Rawlings, the fellow who went with Abajo to round up the missing
+cattle?" asked Bob.
+
+"He's the one," Frank went on. "And from the fact that he rides alone, I
+take it he's bringing news."
+
+"Of the seven head of cattle that have disappeared, you mean, Frank?"
+
+"Perhaps. They may have found them, and Abajo is standing by, while
+Pete comes in to make some sort of report. There's that rustler bunch
+that comes from the other side of the Gila river once in a while, under
+Pedro Mendoza, you remember. But he'll soon be on deck, and then we'll
+know. Come along, Bob, and we'll let dad hear that Pete is sighted.
+He'll be interested some, I reckon."
+
+A short time later the single rider threw himself from his saddle after
+the usual impetuous manner of cowboys in general.
+
+"Back again, Pete; and did you see anything of that seven head?" asked
+Colonel Haywood, who had come outside.
+
+"Ain't run across hair nor hide of 'em, Colonel," replied the squatty
+cattleman, as he "waddled" up to the spot where the little group awaited
+his coming; for like many of his kind, Pete was decidedly bow-legged,
+possibly from riding a horse all his life; and his walk somewhat
+resembled that of a sailor ashore after a long cruise.
+
+"Where did you leave Abajo?" asked Frank, unable to restrain his
+curiosity.
+
+"Didn't leave him," replied the other, with a grin. "He gave me the
+merry ha! ha! and said as how he reckoned he'd had enough of the old
+Circle. Got his month's pay yesterday, you see, an' he's even. I
+reckoned somethin' was in the wind when I seen him talkin' with that
+feller."
+
+"Who was that, Pete?" questioned Colonel Haywood; and the prompt answer
+made Frank and Bob exchange significant looks, for it seemed to voice
+their worst fears.
+
+"A gent as you had avisitin' here some time back, Colonel. Reckon as how
+he don't feel any too warm toward you, accordin' to the way he used to
+bring them black brows of his'n down, when he thought you wa'n't
+lookin'. And his name was Eugene Warringford."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+STARTING FOR THE GRAND CANYON
+
+
+No one appeared to be greatly surprised at this piece of news.
+Apparently it had been already discounted in the mind of Frank, his
+father, and even Bob Archer.
+
+"So, that's the way the wind sets, is it?" remarked the colonel,
+frowning.
+
+"Anyhow, dad, that proves one thing," declared Frank.
+
+"Meaning about that business of listening under the window?" observed
+the owner of Circle Ranch. "It certainly does. Abajo has been in the
+employ of Eugene Warringford from the start. But there must have been
+some other good reason why that schemer wanted to find Uncle Felix. He
+suspected that, sooner or later, the old gentleman would communicate
+with me, because I used to be quite a favorite of his, years ago."
+
+"Yes, and he sent the half-breed here to get employment from you just to
+spy around," declared Frank. "All the time he was accepting your money,
+he had a regular income from Eugene."
+
+"Oh! well, he earned all he got here," said the ranchman, quickly. "Say
+what I may about Abajo, he had no superior when it came to throwing the
+rope, and rounding up a herd. Those Mexicans make the finest of cowboys.
+They are at home in the saddle, every time."
+
+"Also in hanging around under windows, and listening to what is said,"
+added Frank. "As for me, I have little use for their breed. And, dad, if
+ever you give me the reins here, no Mexican will ever get a job on old
+Circle Ranch."
+
+"Well," remarked the stockman, laughing at the vigor with which his son
+and heir made this assertion, "perhaps I'm leaning that way myself.
+After all, there's nothing like your own kind. We don't understand these
+fellows. Their ways are not the same as ours; and I reckon we puncture
+their pride often enough. But there's no trouble now about understanding
+why Abajo gave us the go-by to-day."
+
+"Huh! he had some news worth while carrying to his boss," said Frank.
+"And I can just imagine how Eugene's little eyes will sparkle when he
+hears about that valuable paper; eh, dad?"
+
+"You're right, son," the ranchman replied. "Because, it stands to reason
+he couldn't know anything about it before. The mine was a dead one up
+to a few months back, when that lucky-find lode was struck by accident.
+Eugene will put up a big chase to find this Echo Cave, now that he knows
+Uncle Felix is located somewhere in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado."
+
+"But it won't make a bit of difference in our plans, dad; will it?"
+asked Frank.
+
+"That depends on you two boys. If you think you can carry the game
+along, even with Eugene against you, I see no reason to make any
+change," the stockman replied, with a look that spoke of much
+confidence.
+
+The balance of the afternoon was spent in exchanging views, and much
+study of the map of the famous canyon of the Colorado, which it happened
+the ranch owner had in his desk.
+
+All sorts of theories were advanced by first one and then another of the
+group. It happened that Colonel Haywood himself had never as yet paid a
+visit to the strange gash in the soil of northwestern Arizona; and he
+admitted the fact with a rueful face.
+
+"Then just as soon as you get well, dad, make up your mind you're going
+to take a little vacation, and see the Grand Canyon," said Frank. "When
+we come back, perhaps what we have to say will set you wild to go. And
+we expect to bring news of old Uncle Felix too, if he's still in the
+land of the living."
+
+"Let's go over that ground again," remarked Bob.
+
+"Now you're referring to what was said about the funny old stone
+dwellings of the cliff dwellers, who used to live there centuries ago,"
+remarked Frank.
+
+"And he's right, too," declared the ranchman. "I get the point Bob
+makes. It was about these wonderful people that Uncle Felix was so
+deeply interested, and he made up his mind to shut himself away from all
+the world, just to study up their history, as left in the holes in the
+rock."
+
+"And it would seem to follow, then," said Bob, readily, "that he will be
+found located in one of those series of terraces where these holes are
+discovered. I notice that there are a number of these villages connected
+with the map of the Grand Canyon; but the chances are your Uncle Felix
+wouldn't take up with any where tourist travel was common."
+
+"Now, that sounds all right," admitted Frank. "In the first place he
+would have been heard from long ago, if tourists ran across him; because
+they always talk, and send their accounts to be published in the
+papers."
+
+"Besides, these scientific men hate to be watched when they're wrapped
+up in work like this. I've known a couple back in Old Kentucky," Bob
+went on.
+
+"According to your idea, then," said the Colonel, nodding approvingly,
+"this Echo Cave he mentions will prove to be some new place that the
+ordinary tourist in the big canyon has never set eyes on?"
+
+"That's my opinion, sir," replied Bob.
+
+"And if that's so, then it wouldn't pay you boys to waste any time
+looking into these ruins of the homes of the cliff dwellers located
+around Grand View; and in Walnut Canyon, some nine miles from
+Flagstaff," the ranchman continued.
+
+"I think we'd save more or less time that way, sir," Bob declared.
+
+"And you still want to go on horseback; when you might reach the
+railroad, and take a train, easily enough?" asked Colonel Haywood.
+
+The boys exchanged glances. They were wedded to the saddle, and disliked
+the idea of leaving their favorite steeds behind them when embarking on
+this new venture.
+
+"We've picked out the trail we expect to follow, dad," Frank said,
+pleadingly; "and it seems to run pretty smooth, with only a few
+mountains to cross, and a couple of rivers to ford. If you don't object
+seriously, Bob and I would prefer to go mounted."
+
+"Oh! as far as that goes, I don't blame you, boys," the stockman
+hastened to say in reply; for he could understand the yearning one feels
+for a favorite horse; and how a seat in the saddle seems to be the
+finest thing in the world.
+
+"Thank you, dad!" exclaimed Frank. "I reckoned that you'd talk that way.
+Somehow or other I just don't feel more'n half myself out of the saddle.
+And when we start to go down into the canyon we can find some place to
+leave our mounts where they'll be 'tended decently enough."
+
+Ah Sin, the Chinese cook of the ranch, who generally accompanied the
+boys when the whole outfit went on the grand round-up, with the mess
+wagon in attendance, now came outdoors, and beat his gong to announce
+dinner.
+
+The cowboys were not far away, awaiting the summons with the customary
+range appetites held in check; and when they were seated at the table
+they presented a merry crowd. Frank's mother happened to be visiting
+East at this time. He had a maiden aunt, however, who looked after the
+household duties, and sat at the end of the long table to pour the
+coffee.
+
+Of course there was more or less talk about the sudden flitting of the
+half-breed, Abajo. Nobody had any regrets, for he had never been liked.
+And there were several who secretly felt pleased, because they had
+happened to quarrel with the dark-skinned Mexican at different times,
+and did not altogether fancy the way he had of scowling, while his
+finger felt the edge of the knife he carried in his gay sash, after the
+manner of his countrymen.
+
+Colonel Haywood did not see fit to explain the real cause for the going
+of Abajo, except to his foreman, Bart Heminway. But during the evening,
+when Frank and Bob were making up their packs so as to get an early
+start in the morning, the ranch owner might have been seen in earnest
+consultation with the foreman.
+
+Presently Bart went out, to return with Old Hank Coombs, and another
+cowman known as Chesty Lane; who had of course received this name on
+account of the way he thrust out his figure, rather than from any
+inclination on his part to boast of his wonderful deeds.
+
+"Chesty tells me, Colonel," said Bart, "that he used to be a guide in
+this same Grand Canyon, years ago. I never knowed it 'till right to-day.
+And if so be you intend to send Old Hank up thar to keep tabs on the
+doings of that ugly pair, Abajo and Warringford, thar couldn't be a
+better man to pick out than Chesty. You can depend on him every time."
+
+Then followed another conference, of which the two boys, wrapped up in
+their own plans in another room, were of course entirely ignorant.
+
+It was decided, however, that the two cowmen should wait until the boys
+were well on their way. Then, supplied with ample funds, they could
+ride to the nearest station, meet the first train bound north, and be
+at Flagstaff before night came around.
+
+In this way the Colonel figured that he was safeguarding the interests
+of Bob and Frank. Already had he begun to regret allowing them to go,
+and if it had not been for the high regard he had for his word, once
+given, he might have backed down. However, perhaps the sending of Hank
+and his companion might answer the purpose, and prove a valuable move.
+
+The night passed, and with early dawn there was a stir all about Circle
+Ranch.
+
+Every cowboy on the place accompanied Frank and Bob several miles on
+their long journey, every fellow wishing he had been asked to join them
+for the adventure. And when Bart Hemingway gave the word to turn back,
+the entire group waved their hats, and cheered as long as the two lads
+remained within hearing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BUCKSKIN ON GUARD
+
+
+"A good day's ride, all right, Bob!"
+
+"You never said truer words, Frank. And now, with night setting in, how
+far do you think we've covered since the start this morning?"
+
+The Kentucky boy sat in his saddle with a slight show of weariness,
+which was not to be wondered at, considering the steadiness with which
+they had kept on the move, hour after hour, heading in a general
+Westerly direction.
+
+The satin skin of Domino was flecked with foam. Even the tough little
+Buckskin mount of Frank showed signs of weariness; though ready to keep
+on if his master gave the word.
+
+"That would be hard to tell," replied the rancher's son; "but it must be
+all of sixty-five miles, I reckon."
+
+"Then that beats my record some," declared the other.
+
+"But it was a glorious gallop all the way through," asserted Frank.
+
+"That's what; and more to follow to-morrow," his chum hastened to
+remark.
+
+"But a different kind of travel, the chances are, Bob. To-day it
+happened that we were crossing the great mesa, and it was like a floor
+for being level. Over yonder, ahead, you can see the mountains we must
+cross. Then there are rivers to ford or swim. Yes, variety is the spice
+of life; and unless I miss my guess we're due for a big change
+to-morrow."
+
+"Think we can make Flagstaff by to-morrow night?" asked the Kentucky
+lad, who, at a time like this, seemed to depend very much upon the
+superior knowledge of his chum, who had been brought up on the plains.
+
+"We're going to make a try; that's as far as I've got," laughed Frank.
+"But what about camping here?"
+
+"As good as anywhere," answered Bob. "Fact is, I'm admitting to being
+ready to drop down in any old place, so long as I can stretch my legs,
+and roll. No wonder a horse likes to turn over as soon as you take the
+saddle off. Shall we call it a go, Frank?"
+
+The other jumped to the ground. Bob thought he heard him give a little
+grunt in doing so; but just then he was interested in repressing his own
+feelings.
+
+However, when they had moved about somewhat, both boys confessed to
+feeling considerably better. As for the horses, there was no danger of
+their straying after that gallop of many hours in the hot sun. They took
+their roll, and then began hunting for stray tufts of grass among the
+buffalo berry bushes.
+
+The sun had already set, and twilight told of the coming night. Around
+them lay the mesa, with the mountains cropping up like a crust along the
+edge. It was a familiar scene, to Frank in particular, and one of which
+he never tired.
+
+"I noticed some jack rabbits as we came along," remarked Bob, "and as
+they always come out of their burrows about dusk to play, suppose I try
+and knock over a couple right now."
+
+"Wouldn't object myself to a good dinner of rabbit, after that ride,"
+Frank admitted, as he proceeded to get the little tent in position, a
+task that was only a pleasure to a boy fond of all outdoors.
+
+So Bob immediately sauntered off toward the spot where he had noticed
+the long-eared animals, calculated to make a good meal for hungry
+campers.
+
+"I heard gophers whistling," called out Frank, "and that means there's a
+village somewhere close by. Keep your eyes out for the rattlers; they
+are always found where prairie dogs live."
+
+"I never forget that, Frank," came back from the disappearing hunter.
+
+Frank went on with his preparations. A fire would be necessary, if they
+expected to cook fresh meat; and it is not always an easy thing to have
+such when out on the open plain or mesa. But Frank had already sighted a
+supply of fuel sufficient for their needs and it was indeed next door to
+a miracle to find the dead branch of a pine tree here, far away from the
+mountains, where the nearest trees seemed to grow.
+
+"I reckon it was just lifted up in some little tornado, and carried
+through the air, just to land where we needed it," he remarked, as he
+dragged the log closer to where he had quickly put up the tent; and then
+began chopping at it with his little camp hatchet.
+
+As he worked there came a quick report from a point not far away.
+
+"That means one jack," he remarked, raising his head to listen; but to
+his surprise no second shot followed.
+
+"Well, if he hopes to get a pair, he'll have to hurry up his cakes,"
+Frank went on; "because the night's settling down on us fast. But then
+one will give us a taste all around, and help out."
+
+It was some little time before he heard Bob coming, and then the
+Kentuckian seemed to be walking rather unsteadily. Frank jumped to his
+feet, with the suspicion that possibly after all Bob had met with a
+misfortune. In the minute of time that he was waiting for his chum to
+appear, a number of things flashed through his head to give him
+uneasiness.
+
+Had Bob been unlucky enough to run across one of those aggressive little
+prairie rattlesnakes after all? Could he have wounded himself in any way
+when he fired his repeating rifle? Neither of these might prove to be
+the case; and yet Bob was certainly staggering as he came along.
+
+Now he could be seen by the light of the little fire. Frank stared, for
+his chum was certainly bending over, as though bearing a load. He had
+heard no outcry that would signify the presence of others in the
+neighborhood. Ah! surely those were the long slender legs of an antelope
+which Bob gripped in front of him.
+
+"Bully for you!" exclaimed Frank. "Where under the sun did you run
+across that fine game? Say, you sure take the cake, stepping out just to
+knock over a couple of long-ears; and then coming back ten minutes later
+with a fine antelope on your back. How did you do it, Bob?"
+
+"I don't know," laughed the other. "Happened to start up against the
+wind, and was creeping up behind some buffalo berry bushes to see if
+there were any jack rabbits beyond, when this little fellow jumped to
+his feet. Why he didn't light out when we came along, I never could tell
+you."
+
+"Oh! he just knew we wanted a good supper, I reckon," Frank remarked.
+"And now to get busy."
+
+It did not take them long to cut some choice bits from the antelope,
+which they began to cook at the fire, thrusting the meat through with
+long splinters of wood, which in turn were held in a slanting position
+in the ground. When one part gave evidence of being browned the novel
+spit was turned until all sides had been equally served.
+
+"Remember the way Old Hank showed us how to toll antelope for a shot,
+when you can't find cover to get near enough?" asked Frank, as they sat
+there, disposing of their supper, with the satisfaction hunger always
+brings in its train.
+
+"You mean with the red handkerchief waved over the top of a bush?" Bob
+went on. "Hank said there never was a more curious little beast than an
+antelope. If he didn't have a red rag a white one would do. Once he said
+he just lay down on his back and kicked his heels in the air. The game
+ran away, but came back; and each time just a little bit closer, till
+Hank could fire, and get his supper. I've done something the same for
+ducks, in a marsh back home, trying to draw their attention to the
+decoys I had out."
+
+A small stream ran near by, at which the boys and horses had quenched
+their thirst. Sometimes its gentle murmur floated to their ears as they
+sat there, chatting, and wondering whether their mission to the Grand
+Canyon was destined to bear fruit or not.
+
+"I can get the smell of some late wild roses," remarked Frank. "And it
+isn't often that you find such things up on one of these high mesas, or
+table lands. Do you know, I rather imagine this used to be a favorite
+stamping ground for buffalo in those good old days when herds of tens of
+thousands could be met with, rolling like the waves of a sea over the
+plains."
+
+"What makes you think so?" asked Bob, always seeking information.
+
+"The grass, for one thing," came the reply. "Then I noticed quite a few
+old sun-burned remnants of skulls as we came along. The bone hunter
+didn't gather his crop in this region, that means. Besides, didn't you
+see all those queer little indentations that looked as though they might
+have been pools away back years ago?"
+
+"Sure, I did; and wondered whatever could have made them," Bob admitted.
+
+"I may be wrong," Frank continued; "but somehow I've got an idea that
+those must be what they used to call buffalo wallows. Anyhow, that
+doesn't matter to us. We've made a good day of it; found a jim-dandy
+place for a camp; got some juicy fresh meat; and to-morrow we hope to
+land in Flagstaff."
+
+"And what then?" queried Bob.
+
+"We'll decide that while we ride along to-morrow," Frank answered.
+"Perhaps it may seem better that we leave our horses there, and take the
+train for the Grand Canyon; though I'm inclined to make another day of
+it, and follow the old wagon trail over the mesa, and through the pine
+forest past Red Butte, to Grand View."
+
+"Listen to Buckskin snorting; what d'ye suppose ails him?" asked Bob, as
+his chum stopped speaking.
+
+"I was just going to say that myself," remarked Frank, putting out his
+hand for his rifle; and at the same time scattering the brands of the
+dying fire so that darkness quickly fell upon the spot.
+
+"Too late, I'm afraid," muttered Bob.
+
+"Seems like it, because the horses are sure coming straight for us,"
+said Frank; "but there are many people moving around in this section,
+and perhaps some tenderfeet from the East have lost themselves, and
+would be glad of a chance to sit by our blaze and taste antelope meat,
+fresh where it is grown. Step back, Bob, and let's wait to see what
+turns up!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+STANDING BY THE LAW
+
+
+"What had we ought to do?" asked Bob.
+
+"They must have seen our fire, and that's what made them head this way.
+So, all we can do is to wait, and see what they want," replied Frank.
+
+"But there don't seem to be many in the party," his chum went on.
+
+"I think not more than two, Bob."
+
+"You can tell from the beat of their horses' hoofs--is that it?"
+inquired the boy who wanted to learn.
+
+"Yes, it's easy enough, Bob."
+
+By this time the sounds had grown quite loud, and both boys strained
+their eyes, trying to locate the approaching horsemen. In the old days
+on the plains every stranger was deemed an enemy until he had proven
+himself a friend. Nowadays it is hardly so positive as that; but
+nevertheless those who are wise take no chances.
+
+"I see them!" Bob announced; but although the other saddle boy had not
+said so, he had picked up the advancing figures several seconds before.
+
+"One thing sure," remarked Frank, as though relieved, "I reckon they
+can't be horse thieves or cattle rustlers."
+
+"You mean they wouldn't be so bold about coming forward?" ventured Bob.
+
+"That's about the size of it; but we'll soon know," Frank went on.
+
+As the strangers drew rapidly nearer he began to make out their "style"
+for the night was not intensely dark. And somehow Frank's curiosity
+increased in bounds. He discovered no signs of the customary cowboy
+outfit about them. They wore garments that savored of civilization, and
+sat their horses with the air of men accustomed to much riding.
+
+"Hold hard there, strangers; or you'll be riding us down!" Frank sang
+out, as the newcomers loomed up close at hand.
+
+At that the others drew rein, and brought their horses to a halt.
+Bending low in the saddle they seemed to be peering at the dimly-seen
+figures of the two boys.
+
+"Who is it--speak quick!" one of the strangers said; and Frank believed
+he heard a suspicious click accompanying the thrilling words.
+
+"Two boys bound for Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon," he answered, not
+wishing to take any unnecessary chances.
+
+"Where from, and what's your names?" continued the other, in his
+commanding voice, that somehow told Frank he must be one accustomed to
+demanding obedience.
+
+The ranch boy no longer felt any uneasiness. He believed that these men
+were not to be feared.
+
+"I am the son of Colonel Haywood, owner of the Circle Ranch; and this is
+my chum, Bob Archer, a Kentucky boy," he said, boldly.
+
+Then the other man, who as yet had not spoken, took occasion to remark:
+
+"'Taint them, after all, Stanwix! Perhaps we've been following the wrong
+trail."
+
+The name gave Frank an idea. He had heard more or less about the doings
+of a sheriff in a neighboring county, called Yavapai, and his name was
+the same as that mentioned by the second dimly seen rider.
+
+"Are you gentlemen from Prescott?" he asked.
+
+"That's where I hold out when I'm home," replied the one who had asked
+about their identity.
+
+"Are you Sheriff Stanwix?" pursued the boy, while his companion almost
+held his breath in suspense.
+
+"I am; and this is Hand, who holds the same office in this county of
+Coconino," replied the other, as he threw a leg over his saddle as
+though about to dismount.
+
+Both of them joined the boys, leaving their horses to stand with the
+bridles thrown over their heads, cowboy fashion.
+
+Frank meanwhile had picked up some small fuel, and thrown it on the
+still smouldering fire. It immediately started up into a blaze that
+continued to increase.
+
+They could now see that their visitors were two keen-eyed men. The
+evidence of their calling lay in the stars that decorated their left
+breasts. Both looked as though they could hold their own against odds.
+And of course they were armed as became their dangerous profession.
+
+Bob was especially interested. He had never really had anything to do
+with an officer of the law; and surveyed the pair with all the ardor of
+boyish curiosity.
+
+To see one sheriff was a treat; but to have two drop down upon them
+after this fashion must be an event worth remembering.
+
+"We had the good luck to knock over a young antelope just before dark,"
+Frank remarked, after each of the men had insisted in gravely shaking
+hands with both himself and Bob. "Perhaps you haven't had any supper,
+and wouldn't mind taking pot luck with us?"
+
+"How about that, Hand?" questioned the taller man, turning with a laugh
+to the second sheriff.
+
+"Just suits me," came the reply, as the speaker threw himself down on
+the hard ground. "Half an hour's rest will do the hosses some good,
+too."
+
+"Thank you, boys, we accept, and with pleasure," Mr. Stanwix went on,
+turning again toward Frank.
+
+Bob immediately got busy, and started to cut further bits from the
+carcase of his small antelope. There would be plenty for even the
+healthy appetites of the two officers, and then leave enough for the
+boys' breakfast.
+
+"We're in something of a hurry to get on to Flagstaff ourselves, boys,"
+the Yavapai sheriff remarked, as he sniffed the cooking venison with
+relish; "but the temptation to hold over a bit is too strong. You see,
+Hand and myself have just made up our minds to bag our birds this trip,
+no matter where it takes us, or how long we're on the job."
+
+"Then you're after some cattle rustlers or bad men, I reckon," Frank
+remarked.
+
+"A couple of the worst scoundrels ever known around these diggings,"
+replied the officer. "They've been jumping from one county into another,
+when pushed; and in the end Hand, here, and myself concluded we'd just
+join our forces. We've got a posse to the south, and another working to
+the north; but we happened to strike the trail of our birds just before
+dusk, and we've been following it in hopes of reaching Flagstaff before
+they can get down into the gash, and hide."
+
+"A trail, you say?" Frank observed. "Could it have been the one I've
+been following just out of curiosity, and because it seemed to run in
+the very direction my chum and myself were bound?"
+
+"That's just what it was, Frank," the sheriff answered, as he accepted
+the hot piece of browned venison, stick and all, which Bob was holding
+out. "We saw that there had come into the trail the marks of two new
+hosses; and naturally enough we got the idea that it might mean our men
+were being followed by a couple of their own kind."
+
+"Then when you saw our little fire, you thought we were the kind of
+steers you wanted to round up?" the boy asked.
+
+"Oh! well," Mr. Stanwix replied with a little chuckle; "we kept a touch
+on our irons when I was asking you who you were; and if the reply hadn't
+been all that it was, I reckon we'd have politely asked you to throw up
+your hands, boys. But say, this meat is prime, and seems to go to the
+spot."
+
+"I don't know which spot you mean, Stanwix," remarked the other officer,
+who was also munching away like a half-starved man; "but mine suits me
+all right. I'm right glad we stopped. The rest will tone the nags up for
+a long pull; and as for me, I'll be in great shape after this feed."
+
+Bob was kept busy cooking more and more, for the two men seemed to
+realize, after once getting a taste, that they were desperately hungry.
+But he did it with pleasure. There was something genial about the manner
+of Mr. Stanwix that quite captured the heart of the Kentucky lad. He
+knew the tall man could be as gentle as a woman, if the occasion ever
+arose when he had a wounded comrade to nurse; and if his reputation did
+not speak wrongly his courage was decidedly great.
+
+While they sat there the two men talked of various subjects. Frank was
+curious to know something about those whom they were now banded together
+in a determined effort to capture, and so Mr. Stanwix told a few
+outlines of the case.
+
+The men were known as the Arizona Kid and Big Bill Guffey. They had been
+cattlemen, miners, and about every other thing known to the Southwest.
+By degrees they had acquired the reputation of being bad men; and all
+sorts of lawless doings were laid at their door. And finally it came to
+defying the sheriff, evading capture by flitting to another county, and
+playing a game of hide-and-seek, until their bold methods were the talk
+of the whole country.
+
+Then it was the Coconino sheriff had conceived the idea of an alliance
+with his brother officer in the adjoining county, of which the thriving
+city of Prescott was the seat of government.
+
+Frank even had Mr. Stanwix describe the two men whom the officers were
+pursuing.
+
+"We expect to be around the Grand Canyon for some weeks," the lad
+remarked; "and it might be we'd run across these chaps. To know who they
+were, would be putting us on our guard, and besides, perhaps we might be
+able to get notice to you, sir."
+
+"That sounds all right, Frank," the other had hastened to reply; "and
+believe me, I appreciate your friendly feelings. It's the duty of all
+good citizens to back up the man they've put in office, when he's trying
+to free the community of a bad crowd."
+
+Then he explained just how they might get word to him in case they had
+anything of importance to communicate. Although the Tarapai sheriff knew
+nothing about wireless telegraphy, he did understand some of the methods
+which savage tribes in many countries use in order to send news hundreds
+of miles; sometimes by a chain of drums stationed on the hill tops miles
+apart; or it may be by the waving of a red flag.
+
+"And I want to tell you, Frank," Mr. Stanwix concluded, "if so be you
+ever do have occasion to send me that message, just make up your minds
+that I'll come to you on the jump, with Hand at my heels. But for your
+own sakes I hope you won't run across these two hard cases. We've got
+an idea that they mean to do some hold-up game in the Grand Canyon,
+where hundreds of rich travelers gather. And if luck favors us we expect
+to put a spoke in their wheel before they run far!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE MOQUI WHO WAS CAUGHT NAPPING
+
+
+Sheriff Stanwix arose with a sigh.
+
+"Reckon we'd better be moving on, Hand," he said, evidently with
+reluctance; for it was very pleasant sitting there, taking his ease
+beside the camp fire of the two boys; but when duty called this man
+never let anything stand in the way.
+
+Their horses had not strayed far away. Like most animals they had sought
+the company of their kind, as various sounds indicated, Buckskin
+doubtless showing his prairie strain by sundry nips with his teeth at
+the strangers.
+
+Another shake of hands all around; then the sheriffs threw themselves
+into their saddles, and were off. The last the two lads saw of them was
+when their figures were swallowed up in the night-mists; and then it was
+a friendly wave of the arm that told how much they had appreciated the
+hospitality of the saddle boys.
+
+"Well, anyhow, it doesn't seem quite so lonely out here, after all,"
+said Frank, laughing, as he and his chum settled down again.
+
+"Why, no," added Bob, "I thought we owned the whole coop; but I take it
+back. There are others abroad, it seems."
+
+"I only hope those two fly-by-night birds don't take a notion to double
+on their trail, and come back to pay us a visit," Frank remarked; and of
+course Bob understood that he meant the bad men who were being rounded
+up by Sheriff Stanwix, aided by the official of Coconino County.
+
+"Perhaps we'd better douse the glim, then?" Bob suggested.
+
+"Let it burn out," Frank remarked; "I don't believe there's much chance
+of anybody else seeing it now; because it's pretty low. Our tent shows
+up about as plain, come to think of it; but I don't mean to do without
+shelter."
+
+They sat there, chatting on various subjects, for some time. Of course
+their mission to the region of the greatest natural wonder in the world
+took a leading part in this conversation. But then they also spoke of
+their recent visitors; and as Bob showed signs of considerable interest,
+Frank told all he had ever heard about the valor of the Prescott
+sheriff.
+
+"I don't know how you feel about it, Bob," he said, at length, with a
+yawn, "but I'm getting mighty sleepy."
+
+"Same here; and I move we turn in," Bob immediately replied.
+
+Accordingly, as the idea had received unanimous approval, they took a
+look at the horses, now staked out with the ropes, and, finding them
+comfortable, both boys crawled under the canvas.
+
+Some hours later they were aroused suddenly by a shrill yell. As they
+sat up, and groped for their rifles, not realizing what manner of peril
+could be hanging over them, the loud snorting of the horses came to
+their ears.
+
+"Come on!" exclaimed Frank, in considerable excitement. "Sounds like
+somebody might be bothering our mounts!"
+
+Bob had not been so very long in the Western country; but he knew what
+that meant all right. Horses were supposed to be the most valuable
+possessions among men who spent their lives on the great plains and
+deserts of this region. In the old days it was deemed a capital crime to
+steal horses.
+
+So Bob, shivering with excitement, but not fear, hastened to follow at
+the heels of his chum, as Frank hastily crawled out of the tent.
+
+A rather battered looking moon was part way up in the Eastern heavens.
+Though the light she gave was none of the best, still, to the boys,
+coming from the interior of the tent, it seemed quite enough to enable
+them to see their way about, and even distinguish objects at a little
+distance.
+
+Frank lost no time heading in the direction where he knew the horses had
+been staked out.
+
+"Anyhow, they don't seem to have got them yet," remarked Bob, gleefully,
+as the sound of prancing and snorting came to their ears louder than
+ever.
+
+Frank stopped for a couple of seconds to listen.
+
+"Buckskin is carrying on something fierce," he muttered. "He seems to be
+furiously mad, too. Perhaps, after all, it may be a bear sniffing
+around; though I'd never expect to find such a thing out here, so far
+away from the mountains."
+
+He again started on, with Bob close at his elbow. The words of his chum
+had given the Kentucky lad new cause for other thrills. What if it
+should prove to be a grizzly bear? He had had one experience with such a
+monster, and was not particularly anxious for another, not being in the
+big game class.
+
+Now they were approaching the spot where the two roped horses were
+jumping restlessly about, making queer sounds that could only indicate
+alarm.
+
+Frank spoke to his animal immediately, thinking to reassure him.
+
+"Easy now, Buckskin; what's making you act this way? I don't see any
+enemy. If you've given a false alarm, it'll sure be for the first time!"
+
+"Frank!" ventured the other lad, just then.
+
+"What is it, Bob?"
+
+"I thought I heard a low groan!" continued the Kentucky boy, in awed
+tones.
+
+"You did?" ejaculated Frank, quickly. "Have you any idea where it came
+from?"
+
+As if to make it quite unnecessary for Bob to reply, there came just
+then a low but distinct grunt or groan. Frank could not tell which.
+
+"Over this way, Frank; he's in this direction!" exclaimed the impulsive
+Bob, as he started to move off.
+
+"Wait a minute," said the practical and cautious Frank. "You never know
+what sort of game you're up against, around here. Some of these horse
+thieves can toll a fellow away from his camp to beat the band, while a
+mate gets off with the saddle band. I've been warned against that very
+sort of play. Go slow, Bob, and keep a finger on your trigger, I tell
+you."
+
+They advanced slowly, looking all around in the dim moonlight. Twice
+more the strange sounds arose. Frank jumped to the conclusion that it
+was, after all, no attempt to draw them farther and farther away from
+the tent; because the groans seemed to come from the one spot, instead
+of gradually moving off in a tempting manner.
+
+"Here he is, Bob!" he said, presently; and the other, looking, saw a
+huddled-up figure lying upon the ground in the midst of the low buffalo
+berry bushes.
+
+Immediately they were bending over the form, which had moved at their
+approach.
+
+"Why, it's an Indian, Frank!" cried Bob, in surprise.
+
+"Yes, and unless I miss my guess, a Moqui Indian at that," Frank
+replied. "Three of them wandered down our way once, and gave us some
+interesting exhibitions of their customs. You know their home is up to
+the north. They are said to be the descendants of the old cliff dwellers
+who made all those holes high up in the rocks, to keep out of the reach
+of enemies."
+
+He was bending down over the other even while saying this; and feeling
+to see if the Indian could have been wounded in any way.
+
+"What seems to be the matter with him, Frank?" asked Bob, when this
+thing had been going on for a full minute, the stricken man grunting,
+and Frank appearing to continue his investigations.
+
+"I tell you what," Frank remarked, presently; "I honestly believe he's
+been kicked by the heels of my sassy little Buckskin; perhaps he's badly
+hurt; and then again, he may only have had the wind knocked out of him.
+That horse is as bad as any mule you ever saw, when it comes to planting
+his heels."
+
+"But what was he prowling around the camp for?" asked Bob, who had a
+hazy idea concerning the red men of the West, gained perhaps from early
+reading of the attacks on the wagon trains of the pioneers of the
+prairie.
+
+"Oh! these Moqui Indians wouldn't do a white man any harm, unless they
+happened to take too much juice of the agave plant, in the shape of
+mescal," Frank hastened to say; "and I don't seem to get the smell of
+that stuff. So the chances are that he had something of an eye to our
+horses."
+
+"And as he didn't know about Buckskin's ways he gave the little pony a
+chance to get in some dents. But he may be badly hurt, Frank," Bob went
+on, his natural kindness of heart cropping up above any feeling of
+animosity he might have experienced.
+
+"I suppose, then, we'll just have to tote the beggar to the tent, and
+start up that fire again, while we look him over. If those hind feet
+came slap against his ribs, the chances are we'll find a few of them
+broken."
+
+Swinging their rifles into one hand they managed to take hold of the
+grunting Moqui, and in this primitive fashion began hauling him along.
+Buckskin continued to prance and snort as though demanding whether he
+had not amply fulfilled his duty as guardian to the camp; but no one
+paid the least attention to him just then. Arriving at the tent the
+boys proceeded to rekindle the fire.
+
+"Why, he's coming to, Frank!" exclaimed Bob, as, having finished his
+task, he turned to see his chum bending over the victim of Buckskin's
+hoofs, and noted that the would-be horse thief was struggling to sit up.
+
+"I don't believe he's hurt very bad," Frank declared. "I've felt all
+over his body, and don't seem to find any signs of broken bones."
+
+"Listen to him gasp right now, as if the breath had been knocked out of
+him," remarked Bob. "He's going to speak, Frank, sure he is. I wonder
+can we understand what he says. Moqui wasn't included in my education at
+the Military Institution at Frankfort."
+
+The Indian was indeed trying to get enough air in his lungs to enable
+him to say something.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"TALK ABOUT LUCK!"
+
+
+"No hurt Havasupai!" was what he managed to say, hoarsely.
+
+"We're not going to hurt you, old man," remarked Frank; for he had seen
+that the Indian was no stripling. "What we want to know is, how you came
+to get so close to the heels of my horse as to be kicked? Tell us that,
+Havasupai, if you please."
+
+There was no answer, although twice the exhausted red man opened his
+lips as if to speak.
+
+"That knocks the props out from under him, Frank," remarked Bob;
+"because he was bent on getting away with one or both mounts."
+
+"How about that, Havasupai; weren't you thinking of stealing a horse,
+when that animal just keeled you over so neatly?" Frank demanded.
+
+The Indian was sitting up now. His head was hanging low on his chest.
+Perhaps it was shame that caused this: or it might have been a desire to
+keep his face hidden from the searching eyes of the white boys.
+
+Then, as though realizing the utter folly of denying what must appear so
+evident, he nodded his head slowly.
+
+"It is true, white boy," he muttered, in fair English. "Havasupai meant
+to take a horse. He had looked upon the man who beckons, and he was
+afraid, because he had trouble at his village. He believed every man's
+hand was against him. And so he would flee to the desert where the white
+man's big medicine would not find him. There he might die with the
+poison snakes and the whooping birds."
+
+Bob was of course puzzled by some of the things the Indian said.
+
+"What does he mean, Frank?" he asked.
+
+"I take it the warrior has been in some sort of fuss at his village,"
+the other replied. "Perhaps he even struck his chief in anger, and that
+made an offense punishable with death. These Moqui Indians are a queer
+lot, anyhow, I've heard. Then he must have skipped out, and by accident
+seeing our friend, Sheriff Stanwix, known to him as the 'man who
+beckons,' he just imagined they were looking for him."
+
+"And that locoed him so much that he just couldn't stand it any longer,"
+Bob said. "Discovering our camp he got the notion in his head that a
+horse might take him out of the danger zone. So he was in the act of
+jumping on one of our mounts when your clever little beast took a hand,
+or rather a hoof, in the matter. But do you know what he means by
+whooping birds?"
+
+"Well, I can give a guess," replied Frank. "That must mean the little
+owl that lives with the prairie dogs in their holes, along with the
+poison snake, otherwise the rattler."
+
+"Looks like we've just got our hands full to-night, Frank!"
+
+"You're right, Bob. First we feed two hungry sheriffs, and pick up quite
+a little news about the bad men they're looking for. Next, along comes
+this Moqui, Havasupai he says his name is, and he gets in a bad fix by
+trying to run off our horses; and feeling sorry for the old chap we lug
+him to our tent, and look him over, ready to even bind up his wounds, if
+he has any."
+
+"Getting to be a habit, isn't it, Frank?"
+
+"Seems like it," returned the taller boy, as he once more turned toward
+the seated Indian. "Here, can you tell us where my horse kicked you?"
+
+"It matters not much. Havasupai get what he needs because he try to
+steal horse from good white boys," came the humble reply.
+
+"One thing sure," remarked Frank aside to his chum, "he's been in touch
+with the whites a heap, or he wouldn't know how to talk as he does. But
+then, that isn't so queer. You know that these Moquis pick up a lot of
+good coin from the travelers who come and go at the Grand Canyon."
+
+"Why, yes," Bob went on to say, "I've always heard that one of the
+sights of this wonderland was the snake dance of the Moquis. I read an
+account of it in a magazine once. It said that hundreds of people
+gathered from many quarters to be on hand and see it, because it occurs
+only once a year. Some of them were big guns in science, too."
+
+"They're getting more and more interested in these Indians of the
+Southwest," Frank continued; "and trying all the time to find out just
+where they fit in the long-ago past. That's what made old Uncle Felix,
+who had already made a name for himself, give up his happy home, and
+hide all these months down here. He wants to learn the long-buried
+secrets of the past history of the Zunis, the Moquis, and other tribes
+that might have sprung from the old cliff builders."
+
+"But what can we do with this fellow, Frank?"
+
+"Oh! well, nothing much, I reckon," the other answered, carelessly. "He
+must have been plum locoed at seeing the sheriff, and hardly knew what
+he was doing when he set out to grab Buckskin. We'll just have to let
+him sleep here till morning, and then give him a bite of breakfast."
+
+"Just as you say, Frank; you ought to know what's best," Bob hastened to
+declare. "Now I wonder what'll be the next thing on the programme? I
+hope we don't have the two men the sheriff is hunting, drop in to make
+us a call."
+
+"Little danger of that now," Frank remarked reassuringly. "By this time
+they're well on their way to Flagstaff. Here, Havasupai, as you call
+yourself; we don't mean to do you any harm, even if you did play us a
+mean trick when you tried to steal a mount. Understand?"
+
+The old Indian looked up at Frank through his masses of coarse black
+hair, just beginning to be streaked with gray.
+
+"Not do any harm," he repeated, as though hardly able to grasp the
+meaning of the words Frank spoke; then his brown face lighted up with a
+grim smile. "White boys good; Havasupai glad him not take horse. Bad
+Indian! But not always that way; him carry speaking paper tell how make
+good," and he thumped his breast as he said this.
+
+Again did Bob's eyes seek the face of his chum in a questioning manner.
+Frank, having been raised amid such scenes, could more readily
+understand what the Moqui meant when he referred to certain things which
+Bob had never heard mentioned before.
+
+"He means that he's got a letter of recommendation along with him,
+written by some tourist, I reckon. Perhaps this old fellow may have
+found a chance to do some one a good turn. He may have run across a
+greenhorn wandering on the desert; saved a fellow who had been stabbed
+by the fangs of a viper from the Gila; or helped him to camp when he
+broke a leg in climbing around the Grand Canyon."
+
+"Oh! I see what you mean, Frank; that this party wrote out a
+recommendation to all concerned, stating that in his opinion Havasupai
+was a fine fellow, and worth trusting. But then that was before he got
+into this trouble at this village. If he's a fugitive from justice at
+the hands of his own tribe, such a paper isn't worth much, I guess."
+
+"No more it isn't," agreed Frank.
+
+"But all the same he means to stick us with it," chuckled Bob; "for you
+can see he's got his hand in his shirt right now, as if searching for
+something so valuable that he won't even carry it in his ditty bag."
+
+"That's right, Bob."
+
+"And now he's got in touch with that old letter," grunted Bob. "I
+suppose we'll just have to read it to please him."
+
+"You can if you care to," remarked Frank. "As for me, I'm that sleepy I
+only want a chance to crawl back into the tent, and take up my
+interrupted nap where it broke off."
+
+"But good gracious! do you really mean it?" exclaimed the puzzled Bob.
+
+"Why not?" demanded his chum.
+
+"And leave him loose here, with the horses close by?" Bob went on,
+aghast.
+
+At that Frank laughed a little.
+
+"Well," he said, drily; "so far as the horses are concerned, I reckon
+our old friend Havasupai will go a long way on foot before he ever tries
+to steal a promising looking pony again. As long as he lives he'll
+remember how it feels to get a pair of hoofs fairly planted against his
+back. So long, Bob. Tell the old fraud he can lie down anywhere he
+pleases, and share our breakfast in the morning."
+
+"That's the way you rub it in, Frank; returning evil with good," the
+Kentucky boy remarked. "But since you want me to take him in hand, I'll
+be the victim, and read his letter of recommendation, though I can
+already guess what it will say."
+
+The old Moqui had meanwhile succeeded in getting out the paper which he
+seemed to set so much store by. Looking up, and seeing that Frank had
+turned away, he offered it to Bob, who took it gravely, and proceeded to
+hold it so that the light of the little fire would fall upon the
+writing.
+
+Frank was half way in the tent when he heard his chum give utterance to
+a shout. He backed out again, and turning, looked hastily, half
+expecting to see Bob engaged in a tussle with the old Indian.
+
+Nothing of the sort met his gaze. The Moqui was sitting there, staring
+at Bob, who had straightened up, and was starting to dance around,
+holding the paper in his extended hand.
+
+"What ails you, Bob?" demanded the other. "Haven't been taken with a
+sudden pain, after all that venison you stowed away, I hope."
+
+"Come out here, Frank!" called the lad by the fire. "Of all the luck! to
+think we'd strike such a piece as this! It's rich! It's the finest ever!
+We go to hunt for clues, and here they come straight to us. Talk to me
+about the favors of fortune, why, we're in it up to the neck!"
+
+"You seem to be tickled about something, Bob; has that paper any
+connection with it?" demanded Frank.
+
+"Well I should say, yes, by a big jugfull," replied the Kentucky boy.
+"And you'll agree with me when I tell you it's signed by Professor Felix
+Oswald, the very man we're going to search the Grand Canyon up and down
+to find!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE COPPER COLORED MESSENGER
+
+
+"Do you really mean it, Bob?" asked Frank, with the bewildered air of
+one who suspects a joke.
+
+"Take it yourself, and see," replied the other, holding out the
+discolored and wrinkled sheet on which the writing was still plainly to
+be read.
+
+Frank bent over, the better to allow the firelight to fall upon the
+queer document. This was what he read in a rather crabbed hand, though
+the writing could be read fairly well:
+
+_"To Whom it May Concern; Greeting!_
+
+"This is to certify to the good character of the bearer, a Moqui Indian
+by the name of Havasupai, who has rendered me a very great service,
+which proves him to be the friend of the white man, and a believer in
+the pursuit of science. I cheerfully recommend him to all who may be in
+need of a trustworthy and capable guide to the Grand Canyon.
+
+"PROFESSOR OSWALD."
+
+Frank looked up to see the grinning face of his chum thrust close to
+him.
+
+"Think it's genuine, Frank?" demanded the other.
+
+"I can see no reason why it shouldn't be," answered the other, glancing
+down again at the crumpled paper he held, and which the old Moqui was
+regarding with the greatest of pride on his brown face.
+
+"Looks like that paper Mr. Hinchman brought to my dad; yes, I'd stake my
+word on it, Bob, that the same hand wrote both."
+
+"But how d'ye suppose this greasy old Indian ever got the document?"
+asked the young Kentuckian.
+
+"We'll have to put it up to him, and find out," came the reply. "He can
+speak United States all right; we've found that out already; and so you
+see, there's no reason under the sun why he shouldn't want to tell us."
+
+He turned to the Moqui. It was not the same sleepy boy apparently who,
+but a minute before, had started to creep into the comfortable tent,
+where the blankets lay; but a wide-awake fellow, eager to ascertain
+under what conditions this fugitive brave could have secured such a
+letter of recommendation from the man of science, who was supposed to
+have utterly vanished from the haunts of men without leaving a single
+trace behind, up to the hour that message came to Colonel Haywood.
+
+Holding the paper up, and shaking it slightly, Frank started to put the
+Moqui warrior on the rack.
+
+"This belong to you, Havasupai?" he demanded, trying to assume a stern
+manner, such as he believed would affect the other more or less, and be
+apt to bring out straight answers to his leading questions.
+
+"The white boy has said," answered the other, for an Indian seldom
+answers in a direct way.
+
+"Where did you get it?" Frank continued, slowly, as if feeling his way;
+for he did not wish to alarm the Indian, knowing how obstinate a Moqui
+may prove if he once suspects that he is being coaxed into betraying
+some secret or a friend.
+
+The black, bead-like eyes were on the face of Frank as he put these
+questions. Doubtless the old Moqui balanced every one well before
+venturing a reply.
+
+"He gave it," nodding in the direction of the paper Frank held.
+
+"Do you mean the man who signed his name here, Professor Oswald?"
+
+A nod of the head in the affirmative settled that question.
+
+"Was he a small man with a bald head, no hair on top, and wearing
+glasses over his eyes, big, staring glasses?"
+
+Frank aided comprehension by touching the top of his own head when
+speaking about the loss of hair on the part of the noted scientist; and
+then made rings with his fingers and thumbs which he clapped to his eyes
+as though looking through a pair of spectacles.
+
+Evidently the Moqui understood. Reading signs was a part of his early
+education. In fact it comprised nearly four-fifths of all the Indian
+knew.
+
+"White boy heap wise; he know that the man give Havasupai talking paper.
+Much great man; know all. Tell Havasupai about cliff men. Find much good
+cook pot, heap more stuff in cave. Find out how cave men live. Write all
+down in book. Send Havasupai one, promise. It is well!"
+
+"But where did you meet him?" asked Frank; and he saw at once that this
+was getting very near the danger line, judging from the manner in which
+the Moqui acted; for he seemed to draw back, just as the alarmed
+tortoise will hide its head in its shell at the first sign of peril.
+
+"In canyon where picture rocks laugh at sun," the Indian slowly said.
+
+"That ought to stand for the Grand Canyon," remarked the boy.
+
+The keen ears of the Moqui caught the words, although they were almost
+spoken in whispers, and only intended for Bob.
+
+He nodded violently, and Frank somehow found himself wondering whether,
+after all, the shrewd Indian might not be wanting to deceive him. He may
+have conceived the idea that these two white boys were the enemies of
+the queer old professor; and for that reason would be careful how he
+betrayed the man who trusted him.
+
+"Listen, Moqui," said Frank, putting on a serious manner, so as to
+impress the other; "we are the friends of the little-old-man who has no
+hair on top of his head. We want to see him, talk with him! It means
+much good to him. He will be glad if you help us find him. Do you
+understand that?"
+
+The Indian's black eyes roved from one to the other of those bright
+young faces. Apparently he would be foolish to suspect even for a minute
+that the two lads could have any evil design in their minds.
+
+Still, the crafty look on his brown face grew more intense.
+
+"He has some good reason for refusing to accommodate us, I'm afraid,"
+Bob said just then, as if he too had read the signs of that set
+countenance.
+
+"Why don't you answer me, Moqui?" Frank insisted, bent on knowing the
+worst. "We are on the way now to find the man who gave you this letter
+that talks. We have some good news for him. And you can help us if you
+will only tell in what part of the Grand Canyon Echo Cave lies."
+
+The Indian seemed to ponder. Evidently his mind worked slowly, when it
+tried to grapple with secrets. But one thing he knew, and this must be
+some solemn promise he had made the man of science, never under any
+conditions to betray his hiding-place to a living soul.
+
+"No can say; in canyon where picture rocks lie; that all," he finally
+declared, and Frank knew Indians well enough to feel sure that no
+torture could be painful enough to induce Havasupai to betray one he
+believed his friend, and whose magic talking paper he carried inside his
+shirt, to prove his good character.
+
+"That settles it, Bob, I'm afraid," he remarked to his chum, who had
+been listening eagerly to all that was being said. "You might try all
+sorts of terrible things and he wouldn't whisper a word, even if he
+believed all we told him."
+
+"That's tough," observed Bob; "but anyhow, we've got something out of it
+all, because we know now that the silly old professor must be hiding in
+one of those cliff caves, trying to read up the whole life history of
+the queer people who dug their homes out of the solid rock, tier after
+tier, away up the face of the cliffs."
+
+"True for you, Bob, and I'm glad to see how you take it. I had hoped the
+Moqui might make our job easier, as he could do, all right, if only he
+wanted to tell us a few things. But we're no worse off than we were
+before, in all things, and some better in a few."
+
+"I wish I could talk Moqui," declared Bob; "and perhaps then I'd be able
+to make the old fellow understand. Perhaps, Frank, if you gave him a
+little note to Uncle Felix, he might promise to take it to him later
+on!"
+
+"Hello! that's a good idea, I declare," exclaimed Frank; "and I'll just
+do that same while I think of it."
+
+He immediately drew out a pad of paper, and a fountain pen which he
+often carried for business purposes, since there were times when he had
+to sign documents as a witness for his father.
+
+The old Moqui watched him closely. Evidently the spider-like handwriting
+was a deep mystery to him, and he must always feel a certain amount of
+respect for any white person who could communicate with another by means
+of the "talking paper."
+
+"There," said Frank, presently, "that ought to do the business, I
+reckon."
+
+"What did you say?" asked his comrade, who was busy at the fire just
+then, drawing some of the partly-burned wood aside, so that their supply
+might hold out in the morning.
+
+"Oh!" Frank went on, "I told him dad had his note, sent in that bottle.
+Then I mentioned the important fact that the mine paper he carried had
+increased in value thousands of dollars. And I wound up by telling him
+how much we wanted to see and talk with him. I signed my name, and
+yours, to the note."
+
+"And now to see whether the Moqui will promise to carry it to your
+great-uncle."
+
+Frank held the note up.
+
+"You will not tell us where we can find the little man without any hair
+on his head, Havasupai," he said. "But surely you will not say no when I
+ask you to carry this talking paper to him. It will please him very
+much. He will shake your hand, and many times thank you. How?"
+
+The cautious old Moqui seemed to be weighing chances in his suspicious
+mind.
+
+"Three to one he thinks we mean to spy on him, and find it all out that
+way," was Bob's quick opinion.
+
+"Just what was in my mind; I could read it in his sly old face. But all
+the same he's going to consent, Bob."
+
+The Kentucky boy wondered how Frank could tell this. He was even more
+surprised when the Indian stretched out a hand for the note, as he said
+solemnly:
+
+"Havasupai will carry the talking paper to the man who has no hair on
+his head. But no eye must see him do it. The white boys must say to
+Havasupai that they will not try to follow him."
+
+Frank looked at his chum, and nodded.
+
+"We'll just have to do it, I guess, to satisfy the suspicious old fraud,
+Bob," he remarked; and then raising his hand, while his chum did
+likewise Frank went on, addressing the Moqui, who watched every action
+with glittering black eyes: "We promise not to follow, Havasupai, and
+will hope that this talking paper may cause the man-who-hides to send
+you for us to take us to him. You understand all that I am saying, don't
+you?"
+
+The Moqui said something in his native language, which of course neither
+of them comprehended. But at the same time he reached out his hand and
+deliberately took the note intended for Uncle Felix.
+
+"Hurrah! he's going to act as our messenger!" exclaimed Bob, filled with
+anticipations of success. "Say, that was a pretty smart dodge on our
+part, after all. But it makes me hold my breath every time I think of
+our good luck in running across this chap the way we did. And Buckskin
+deserves all the credit. He did it with his wonderful little tap."
+
+"All right," said Frank; "me for the land of sleep now! Havasupai, you
+can lie down where you will. In the morning we promise you a share of
+our meat. How?"
+
+"It is well, white boy," replied the old Moqui, as he dropped in a heap,
+and evidently meant to sleep just as he was without any further
+preparations.
+
+Bob also crawled into the tent, although he had some misgivings, and
+wondered whether his chum were really doing a wise thing to trust one
+who had just confessed to a desire to raid their horses.
+
+But as Bob, too, was tired and sleepy, he soon forgot all his suspicions
+in slumber. When he awoke he could see the daylight peeping under the
+canvas. Without disturbing his companion, Bob immediately started to
+crawl out. He had suddenly remembered the old Moqui; and it seemed as
+though his fears must have returned two-fold, and nothing would do but
+that he must hasten to make sure all was well.
+
+Frank was just opening his eyes a little while later when he saw Bob's
+head thrust in at the opening of the tent.
+
+"Better get up, Frank," the other said. "I've started the fire, and
+after we've had breakfast we'll be on our way. It was just as you said,
+though; he had the good sense to keep clear of the heels of the horses."
+
+"Who are you talking about, the Moqui?" asked Frank, sitting up
+suddenly, as he caught a peculiar strain in the other's voice.
+
+"Yes, our friend, Havasupai; who vamoosed in the night!" laughed Bob.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+AT THE GRAND CANYON
+
+
+"Do you mean it?" asked Frank.
+
+"Come out, and see for yourself," Bob returned. "I've looked all around,
+and not a sign of the old fellow can I find."
+
+"And both horses are there?" Frank continued, making a break for the
+exit.
+
+"As fine as you please. Our friend didn't want a second try from those
+clever heels of Buckskin. He gave them a wide berth when he cleared out,
+I warrant. Oh! you can look everywhere, and you won't see a whiff of
+Havasupai. He's skipped by the light of the moon, all right."
+
+Bob backed off, as his chum walked this way and that. He grinned as
+though he really enjoyed the whole thing. In his mind he had figured
+that it would turn out something this way, so he was not very much
+surprised.
+
+"What d'ye think, Frank," he exclaimed, presently; "don't you remember
+promising to share our venison at breakfast with the Moqui?"
+
+"Why yes, to be sure I do; but what of that, Bob?"
+
+"Only that he didn't forget," laughed the other.
+
+Frank immediately glanced toward the carcase of the little antelope.
+
+"Ginger! he did go and cut himself a piece from it, sure enough," he
+admitted.
+
+"While he thought our company not as nice as our room, still, he didn't
+object to sharing our meat. And, Frank, he wasn't at all stingy about
+the amount he took, either," Bob complained.
+
+"Oh! well, I reckon there's still enough for us, and to spare. Besides,
+we've got heaps of other things along in our packs, for an emergency,
+you know. Suppose we make a pot of coffee, and start things."
+
+"That's all right, Frank; I'll attend to it," declared Bob; "but why
+under the sun do you suppose now, that sly old Moqui dodged out like
+that?"
+
+"Well, for one thing, he may have suspected us," replied Frank.
+
+"What! after all we did for him, took him in, and forgave his sins, even
+to offering to mend any broken ribs, if he'd had any, through that horse
+kick? I can't just understand that," Bob ventured, while he measured out
+enough ground coffee to make a pot of the tempting hot beverage.
+
+"He took the alarm, it seems," Frank went on, indifferently. "Knew we
+wanted to find the man who had given him the talking paper; and was
+afraid we might try to make him tell; or, that failing, stalk him when
+he went to deliver my note. And on the whole I can't much blame the old
+Indian. Suspicion is a part of their nature. He believed he was on the
+safe side in slipping away as he did. Forget it, Bob. We've learned a
+heap by his just dropping in on us, I think."
+
+"Sure we have," replied the other, being busily employed over the fire
+just then. "And I was thinking what he could have meant when he pointed
+off in the direction I calculate the Grand Canyon lies, and said in
+answer to one of your questions: 'Seek there! When the sun is red it
+shines in Echo Cave!'"
+
+"I've guessed that riddle, and it was easy," Frank remarked.
+
+"Then let me hear about it, because I'm pretty dull when it comes to
+understanding all this lovely sign language of the Indians," Bob
+remarked.
+
+"Listen, then. The sun is said to be red when its setting; that's plain
+enough; isn't it, Bob?"
+
+"All O.K. so far, Frank. I won't forget that in a hurry, either."
+
+"Then, when he said it looked into the cave at sunset, it was another
+way of telling us the cave faced the west!" Frank continued.
+
+"Well, what a silly chap I was not to guess that," chuckled the other.
+
+"And from what I know about the bigness of that canyon, Bob, I think
+that this unknown Echo Cave must be pretty high up on the face of a big
+cliff to the east of the river."
+
+"Why high up? I don't get on to any reason for your saying that?"
+inquired Bob.
+
+"You'll see it just as soon as I mention why," remarked his companion.
+"When the sun is going down in the west, far beyond the horizon, don't
+you see that it can only shine along the very upper part of the cliffs?
+The lower part is already lost in the shadows that drop late in the
+afternoon in all canyons."
+
+"Of course, and it's as plain to me now as the nose on my face," agreed
+Bob. "Queer, how easy we see these things after they've been explained."
+
+It did not take long to prepare breakfast, and still less time to eat it
+once the coffee and venison were ready. Just as Frank had said, there
+was plenty of the meat for the meal.
+
+"That was a mighty juicy little antelope, all right," remarked Bob, as
+he finished his last bite, and prepared to get up from the ground where
+he had been enjoying his ease during the meal.
+
+"And for one I don't care how soon you repeat the dose," remarked Frank;
+"only it will be a long day before you get one of the timid little
+beasts as easy as that accommodating chap fell to your gun. Why, he was
+just a gift, that's all you could call it, Bob."
+
+"That's what I've been thinking myself, though of course I don't know as
+much about them as you do, by a long shot," Bob admitted. "I suppose
+it's us to hit the saddle again now?"
+
+"We're going to try and make Flagstaff by night," Frank announced, as he
+picked up his saddle and bridle, and walked toward the spot where
+Buckskin was staked out.
+
+The horses had been able to drink all they wanted during the night, for
+the ropes by means of which they were tethered allowed of a range that
+took them to the little spring hole from which the water gushed, to run
+away, and, in the end, possibly unite with the wonderful Colorado.
+
+In ten minutes more the boys were off at a round gallop. There was no
+intention of pushing their mounts so soon in the day. Like most persons
+who have spent much time on horseback both lads knew the poor policy of
+urging an animal to its best speed in the early part of a journey,
+especially one that is to be prolonged for ten or twelve hours.
+
+At noon they were far enough advanced for Frank to declare he had no
+doubt about being able to make Flagstaff before sunset.
+
+"When we get there, and spend a night at the hotel, we must remember
+and ask if our friend Mr. Stanwix and his partner arrived in good time,
+and went on," Bob suggested.
+
+Just as Frank had expected, they made the town on the railroad before
+the sun had dropped out of sight; and the horses were in fair condition
+at that.
+
+Flagstaff only boasts of a normal population of between one and two
+thousand; but there are times, with the influx of tourists bound for the
+Grand Canyon, when it is a lively little place.
+
+The two boys only desired shelter and rest for themselves and their
+horses during the night. It was their intention to push on early the
+following day, keeping along the old wagon trail that at one time was
+the sole means of reaching the then little known Wonderland along the
+deeply sunk Colorado.
+
+After a fairly pleasant night, they had an early breakfast. The horses
+proved to be in fine fettle, and eager for the long gallop. So the two
+saddle boys once more started forth.
+
+The day promised to be still warmer than the preceding one; and the
+first part of the journey presented some rather difficult problems. They
+managed to put the San Francisco Mountains behind them, however, and
+from that on the dash was for the most part over a fairly level plateau.
+
+Now and then they were threading the trail through great pine forests,
+and again it was a mesa that opened up before them.
+
+Bob was especially delighted.
+
+"Think we'll make it, Frank?" he asked, about the middle of the
+afternoon, as they cantered along, side by side, the horses by this time
+having had pretty much all their "ginger" as Bob called it taken out of
+them, though still able to respond to a sudden emergency, had one
+arisen.
+
+"I reckon so," replied the other. "According to my map we're within
+striking distance right now. Given two more hours, and we'll possibly
+sight the border of the big hole. That was Red Horse Tank we just
+passed, you know," and he pointed out their position on the little chart
+to Bob.
+
+It was half an hour to sundown when the well known Grand View Hotel
+stood out in plain sight before them; and before the shades of night
+commenced to fall, the tired boys had thrown themselves from their
+saddles, seen to the comfort of the faithful steeds, and mounted to the
+porch of the hotel for a flitting view of the amazing spectacle that
+spread itself before them, ere darkness hid its wonderful and majestic
+beauty.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HOW THE LITTLE TRAP WORKED
+
+
+"What do you think of it?" asked Frank, after they had stood there a
+short time, taking in the picture as seen in the late afternoon.
+
+"It's hard to tell," Bob replied slowly. "It's so terribly big, that a
+fellow ought to take his time letting the thing soak in. That further
+wall looks as if you could throw a stone over to it; and yet they say
+it's more than a mile from here."
+
+"Yes," Frank went on, "and all along in the Grand Canyon there are what
+seem to be little hills, every one of which is a mountain in itself.
+They only look small in comparison with the tremendous size of the
+biggest gap in the whole world."
+
+"And how far does this thing run--is it fifty miles in length?" Bob
+asked.
+
+"I understand that the river runs through this canyon over two hundred
+miles," the other replied. "And all the way there are scores, if not
+hundreds, of smaller canyons and 'washes,' reaching out like the fingers
+of a whopping big hand; or the feelers of a centipede."
+
+"That's what I read about it away back; but I had forgotten," Bob
+remarked. "And they say that it would be a year's trip to try and follow
+the Grand Canyon all the way down from beginning to end, only on one
+side."
+
+"I reckon it would, for you'd have to trace every one of these lateral
+gashes up to its source, so as to cross over. And that would mean
+thousands of miles to be covered."
+
+"Gee!" exclaimed Bob, throwing up his hands as he spoke; "when you say
+that, it makes a fellow have some little idea of the size of this hole.
+And to think it's come just by the river eating away the soil!"
+
+"They call that erosion," remarked Frank, who had of course posted
+himself on many of these facts, during his previous visit to the canyons
+of the Little Colorado. "It's been going on for untold thousands of
+years; and as the river with its tributaries has gradually eaten away
+the soil and rocks, it has left the grandest pictured and colored walls
+ever seen in any part of this old earth."
+
+"When that afternoon sun shines on the red rocks it makes them look
+almost like blood," declared Bob. "And already I'm glad we came. I think
+just now I could be happy spending months prowling around here, finding
+new pictures every day."
+
+"Then you don't blame old Uncle Felix for staying, do you?" laughed
+Frank.
+
+"Sure I don't," returned the other lad, with vehemence. "And besides,
+you must remember that he had another string to his bow."
+
+"Meaning his craze to be the fortunate man of science to unravel the
+mystery that has always hung over the homes of those cliff dwellers?"
+Frank went on.
+
+"I can understand how it must appeal to a man living as Professor Felix
+has all these years," mused Bob. "And think of those queer old fellows
+picking out this one place of all the wide country to build their
+homes."
+
+"That was because there could be no place that offered them a tenth of
+the advantages this did," Frank remarked, pointing across the wide chasm
+to the towering heights that could be seen. "Think of hundreds of miles
+of such cliffs to choose from! And as the softer rock was washed out by
+the action of floods countless ages ago, leaving the harder in the shape
+of astonishing shelves and buttes, these people took a lesson from
+nature, and carved their roomy homes by following the pliable stone."
+
+"Say," Bob exclaimed, "that makes me think of what I read about the
+catacombs of Rome; how, for hundreds of miles, they run in every
+direction, following the course of veins of earth in the rock, that
+were selected by those who dug 'em."
+
+"Of course," said Frank, "these people built their homes up in the
+cliffs in order to be safe. Nobody seems to know what they were afraid
+of, whether savage tribes, or great beasts that may have roamed this
+part of the country a thousand and more years ago."
+
+"And that's the bait that has drawn the old scientist here, to study it
+all out, and write up the history of the people who looked on this very
+picture so many hundreds of years back. Why, Frank, some of the cliffs
+they say are about a mile high! That's hard to believe, for a fact."
+
+"But it's been proved true," the other asserted. "The trouble is, that
+everything here is on such an awful big scale that a fellow fools
+himself. Actual measurement is the only way to prove things. The eye
+goes back on you. Why, I've looked out on a clear day in Colorado, and
+believed I could walk to a mountain in an hour. They told me it's base
+was fifty miles away; and there you are."
+
+"Well, we'll have to put off looking till morning," said Bob,
+regretfully; "because the sun's dropped out of sight, and it's getting
+pretty thick down there in the hole. And to think that to-morrow we'll
+be pushing along through that place, with the walls shutting us in on
+both sides."
+
+"Not only to-morrow, but for many days, perhaps," Frank added; for more
+than ever did he begin to realize the enormous task that confronted
+them; it was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack; but if one
+possesses a powerful magnet, even then the bit of steel may be recovered
+in time.
+
+Did they happen to know of any such magnet?
+
+Almost unconsciously Frank's thoughts went out toward that old Moqui
+brave, Havasupai, who had fled from his village because of some act
+which he had committed; but who was now determined to return, and take
+his punishment with the stoicism Indians have always shown.
+
+The Moqui might be the connecting link! He alone knew where the hermit
+had his lodging, possibly in one of those quaint series of cliff
+dwellers' homes, which for some reason he called Echo Cave.
+
+"We must ask if our friend Sheriff Stanwix has been here," Bob
+suggested, as they went to their room to prepare for supper.
+
+"Oh!" replied his chum, "I did that when I spoke with the clerk at the
+desk. You were looking after the ponies at the time, so as to make sure
+they'd be well taken care of for a week, or a month if necessary."
+
+"And what did he tell you, Frank?"
+
+"They got here, all right," came the reply. "If you'd looked sharp when
+you were out there in the hotel stables, you might have recognized both
+their mounts; for they left them here at noon to-day."
+
+"Noon!" echoed Bob; "then they made mighty good work of it, to get ahead
+of us all that time. I reckon you're going to tell me they've gone down
+into the canyon, and put in several hours looking for their birds, the
+two fellows who've given 'em the merry laugh more'n a few times."
+
+"Guessed right the first shot," Frank went on, "but all that doesn't
+concern us one half as much as some other information I struck."
+
+"And you've been keeping it back from me, while we stood there on the
+piazza, admiring the wonderful view," Bob remarked, with a touch of
+reproach in his voice.
+
+"There were people passing us, all the time," his chum explained; "and
+besides, I wanted to keep it until we were alone, so we could talk it
+over."
+
+"Is it about that scheming cousin of your father's--what did you say his
+name was--Eugene Warringford?"
+
+"You got it straight enough," Frank admitted; "and what I learned, was
+about him. I saw his name on the register, and he's somewhere about the
+hotel right now. I had a suspicion that I saw some one trying to get
+near us while we stood there, drinking in that picture; and Bob, while I
+couldn't just hold up my hand and say for sure, I think it was that
+tricky Abajo."
+
+"The half-breed cowboy who left Circle Ranch because he had some news
+for this Eugene that the fellow would be apt to consider mighty
+valuable, because it meant a stake of a million or two dollars; is that
+right, Frank?"
+
+"The same Abajo," his chum continued; "which proves that those two are
+bound up in a plot to win this game. If Eugene can only find Uncle Felix
+he intends to get that paper in his possession, by fair means or foul."
+
+"Then it's up to us to put a stopper in his little bottle!" declared
+Bob.
+
+"I'm wondering," Frank proceeded, "whether they've got any idea where to
+look for the man who has hidden himself away for three years. Perhaps
+they mean to keep tabs on us, and if we are lucky enough to discover
+Uncle Felix, they hope to jump in, and snatch away the prize before we
+can warn him."
+
+"Say, this is getting to be a pretty mix-up all around," laughed the
+Kentucky lad. "Here we are, meaning to try and follow the old Moqui; or
+failing that, wait for him to fetch us a message from the hermit of Echo
+Cave. Then Eugene, and his shadow, Abajo, are hanging around with the
+idea of beating us at our game. Havasupai on his part will be heading
+for the cave that lies in an unknown part of the Grand Canyon, and all
+the while dodging about for fear that he is followed."
+
+"Yes," added Frank, falling in with the idea; "and perhaps there are the
+Moquis from his village who may have had word somehow of his return,
+searching for Havasupai, and bent on bringing him to the bar of their
+tribal law. To finish the game, think of our friends, the two sheriffs,
+loose in the big gash, and hunting for the men who have snapped their
+fingers in their faces so often across the line!"
+
+"Well, it sure looks like there might be some warm times coming,"
+remarked Bob. "I suppose we take our guns along with us when we're going
+the rounds of the sights?"
+
+"Wouldn't think of doing anything else," was Frank's reply. "No telling
+when we might need 'em. Suppose, now, those two rascals the sheriffs are
+after should learn in some way about the value of the paper Uncle Felix
+has with him, wouldn't they just make it the game of their lives to try
+and capture him? And I reckon Eugene, too, will be so dead in earnest
+that he won't stop at little things, backed up by such a reckless
+character as the Mexican. Yes, the repeating rifles go along, Bob!"
+
+"This water feels fine after that long, dusty and tiresome ride, eh?"
+remarked the young Kentuckian, as he splashed in the deep basin, and
+then proceeded to use the towel vigorously.
+
+"It certainly does," Frank admitted, as he did likewise.
+
+Shortly afterward the two boys went down to supper. The hotel had its
+usual number of guests, this being a favorite point for parties to start
+on the tour.
+
+"Don't look just now," said Frank, as they sat at a table; "but Abajo
+has taken his seat right back of you. And it wasn't accident, either,
+that made him do it; I believe he has been set to watch us!"
+
+From time to time, as they ate, Frank would report as to what the
+half-breed was doing; and while nothing occurred to actually prove the
+fact, still he saw no reason to change his mind.
+
+"And I'm going to find out if he's keeping an eye on us, so as to report
+to his employer, Eugene Warringford," Frank announced, as they were
+drawing near the end of the meal.
+
+"That sounds good to me," Bob remarked; "but how will you do it?"
+
+For answer Frank drew out a paper from an inner pocket.
+
+"You see this document," he observed, with a solemn look. "Well, it's
+only what you might call a dummy, being just an invitation I received a
+little while back to invest in some worthless mines over in the Hualpai
+Mountains of Mohave County. I kept it, meaning to figure out how these
+sharpers work their game. Now, when I hand you this, look deeply
+interested, as though it might be connected with the finding of Uncle
+Felix."
+
+"Oh! I see your move, and go you one better, Frank."
+
+For some little time they seemed to be conversing intently. Frank would
+occasionally tap the document, which he had sealed up in its envelope,
+as though he laid great stress on it. Finally he placed it on the table
+alongside his plate, and kept on talking.
+
+Shortly afterward the boys left the table in apparently such a hurry
+that they both forgot the envelope that lay there, half hidden by a
+napkin.
+
+Passing out of the room, they dodged back, and peered around the corner
+of the doorway.
+
+"There's the waiter at the table," said Bob. "Now he's found the fine
+tip you left there, and is putting it in his pocket, with a grin. If
+everybody treated him as well as that, he'd soon be owning one of these
+hotels himself, Frank."
+
+"Watch!" remarked his chum, in a low whisper. "Now he's discovered the
+document lying there where I left it. He takes it up. Perhaps he sees
+another dollar coming to him when he runs after us to return it."
+
+"But there's somebody at his elbow," Bob went on to say; "and it's
+Abajo, as sure as you live. He's saying something, and I reckon telling
+the waiter that you asked him to get the packet. There, he slips some
+money in the fellow's hand; and the waiter lets him take the envelope.
+And we'd better slip behind this coat rack here, for Abajo will be
+heading this way in a hurry."
+
+And hardly had they carried out that programme ere the half-breed glided
+past, one hand held in the pocket where he had thrust the "valuable"
+document!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+GOING DOWN THE CANYON TRAIL
+
+
+"Was I right?" asked Frank, after the half-breed had disappeared.
+
+"I should say yes," replied his chum, who had followed the vanishing
+figure of Abajo with staring eyes.
+
+"He got the precious paper, all right, eh?" Frank went on, chuckling.
+
+"He sure did, and bribed our friend the waiter to let him carry it off.
+Shows how you can trust anybody in the tourist country, where they are
+nearly all out for the money," Bob declared, indignation struggling hard
+with a sense of humor.
+
+"But just stop and think how easy Abajo, sharp rascal that he is, rose
+to my little bait?" laughed Frank. "Just as I expected, he was watching
+us all the time we examined that wonderful paper, and of course he
+believed it to be something for which his employer would reward him
+heavily, if he could only lay hands on it."
+
+Bob himself was laughing now, as the full sense of the ridiculous
+character of Frank's little joke broke upon him.
+
+"Oh! my, think what will happen when Mr. Warringford tears open that
+envelope, and sees how his spy has been fooled!" he exclaimed.
+
+"There's only one bad thing about it, Bob!"
+
+"What is that?" inquired the other.
+
+"Eugene is, I take it, a clever fellow," said Frank, seriously; "and
+he'll understand that this was done with a purpose. It will make him
+suspect that we're onto the game, and that we know he has the half-breed
+watching our every move."
+
+"Well, what of that, Frank?"
+
+"Nothing, only after this we may expect they'll change their tactics
+more or less, and play on another string of the fiddle," the other
+saddle boy replied.
+
+"All right," Bob remarked. "Forewarned is forearmed, they say; and if we
+know Eugene is laying low for us, we can be on our guard."
+
+"Yes, that's all very good," Frank went on, shaking his head; "but once
+we get into the big canyon it may pay us to keep an eye out for
+overhanging rocks."
+
+"Say, you don't mean to tell me you think Eugene would go that far?"
+demanded Bob, startled at the very idea of such a thing.
+
+"I don't like to think he would; but you never can tell," Frank replied.
+"When a man like Eugene Warringford sells his soul, and with a chance of
+getting a big stake, he is generally ready to shut his eyes, and go the
+limit."
+
+"But, Frank, that would be terrible! One of those rocks, coming down
+from the face of a high cliff, would seriously injure us!"
+
+"Sure it would, and on that account we must keep on the watch all the
+time," Frank continued. "But I don't see Abajo anywhere about the piazza
+of the hotel; do you?"
+
+"He's gone, and I reckon to carry that wonderful find of his to the man
+who employs him," Bob remarked. "Wouldn't I give a dollar to be hiding
+close by when he runs across Eugene, and they open the envelope you
+sealed! Wow! it will be a regular circus! Can't you imagine that yellow
+face of the half-breed turning more like saffron then ever when he
+learns that we played him for a softy?"
+
+"Well, if you were near by, Bob, I wouldn't be surprised if you just had
+to stick your fingers in your ears," chuckled Frank.
+
+"I reckon they will have a heap to say about it; and Abajo, after this,
+won't take us for easy marks, will he?" Bob remarked, in a satisfied
+tone.
+
+A short time later they were in their room.
+
+"You don't suppose now, Frank, that we'll be bothered to-night?" Bob
+observed, as he stood there by the window looking out toward the Grand
+Canyon.
+
+At that the other laughed quite merrily.
+
+"Don't give yourself any uneasiness about that, Bob," he remarked. "In
+the first place nobody would bother trying to get up here, even if they
+could, when so many better chances of reaching us will crop up after we
+start into the canyon to-morrow. Then again, we haven't anything to be
+stolen but our rifles, and what little cash we brought along for
+expenses."
+
+"Oh! I suppose I am silly thinking about it," admitted Bob, "but some
+way that half-breed seems to be on my nerves. His face is so sly, and
+his black eyes just glitter as I've seen those of a snake do when he's
+going to strike. But, just as you say, it's foolish to borrow trouble,
+and I must get those notions out of my head."
+
+"That's the talk, Bob," his chum declared, heartily. "Morning will find
+us in fine trim to make a start into this big ditch. And before another
+night you'll be so filled with wonder over what you see that these other
+things will take a back seat."
+
+"But do you think we ever can find the hermit of Echo Cave?" asked Bob.
+
+"I think we've got a pretty good chance, if we're left alone," came the
+ready reply.
+
+"Meaning if this Eugene Warringford keeps his hands off; and nothing
+else turns up to balk us?" Bob asked.
+
+"Yes, all of that, and more," Frank admitted.
+
+"But already I find myself wishing we had somebody along with us, like
+Old Hank Coombs for instance, Frank."
+
+"Well, who knows what may happen?" said the other, a little
+mysteriously. "D'ye know, Bob, I saw my dad winking at Hank when he
+thought I wasn't looking; and on that account I've got half an idea he
+meant to send the old man, perhaps with a second cowboy, along on our
+trail. We may run across friends here when we least expect it."
+
+"I hope it turns out that way," declared the Kentucky boy; "because Hank
+is just what you might call a tower of strength when he's along.
+Remember how fortunate it was he turned up when he did, at the time we
+wanted to follow that plague of the cattle ranges, the wolf, Sallie? I
+reckon we'd have had a much harder time bagging our game if Hank hadn't
+been along."
+
+"Well, get to bed now," Frank counseled; "and let to-morrow look out for
+itself."
+
+"All right, I'll be with you in three shakes of a lamb's tail," declared
+Bob.
+
+But before he left the window Frank noticed that he thrust his head out,
+as if desirous of making sure that no one could climb up the face of the
+wall, and find entrance there while they slept.
+
+Bob was not a timid boy as a rule; in fact he was deemed rather bold;
+but just as he said, that dark face of Abajo had impressed him
+unfavorably; and he felt that the young half-breed would be furious when
+he learned how neatly he had been sold.
+
+Nor did anything happen during that night as they slept upon the border
+of the Wonderland. Both lads enjoyed a peaceful sleep, and awoke feeling
+as "fresh as fish," as Bob quaintly expressed it.
+
+Breakfast not being ready they walked about, viewing the astonishing
+features of the canyon as seen from the bluff on which the hotel stood.
+Down in the tremendous gap mists were curling up like little clouds, to
+vanish as they reached the line where the sunlight fell. It was a sight
+that appalled Bob, who declared that he felt as though looking into the
+crater of some vast volcano.
+
+"Well," remarked Frank, "they did have volcanos around here, after this
+canyon was pretty well formed, though perhaps thousands of years ago.
+Great beds of lava have been found down in the bottom of the hole, so my
+little guide book tells me. But look away off there, Bob, and see that
+peak standing up like the rim of a cloud. Do you know what that is?"
+
+"I heard one man say," Bob replied, quickly, "Navajo Peak could be seen
+on a clear morning, and perhaps that's the one; but Frank, just think,
+it's about a hundred and twenty miles off. Whew! they do things on a big
+scale around here; don't they? I'd call it the playground of giants."
+
+"And you'd about hit the bulls eye," his chum observed; "but there goes
+the call for breakfast."
+
+"I feel as if I could stow away enough for a crowd, this mountain air is
+so fresh and invigorating," Bob remarked, as they headed for the dining
+room.
+
+Half an hour later they were once more in front of the hotel, and
+interviewing a guide who had been recommended by the manager as an
+experienced canyon man. It ended in their making terms with John Henry,
+as the fellow gave his name; though of course Frank was too wise to tell
+him what their real object was in exploring the tremendous gap. That
+could come later on.
+
+At about nine o'clock they started down the trail that led from Grand
+View into the depths of the fearful dip. And as they descended,
+following their guide, Bob found himself realizing the colossal size of
+everything connected with the rainbow-hued canyon walls.
+
+Nor was his mind made any easier when Frank took occasion, half an hour
+later, to bend toward him, and say in the most natural manner possible,
+though in low tones:
+
+"They're on the job again, Bob--Abajo and Eugene--because I happened to
+see them watching us start down the trail; and they had some one along
+with them, perhaps a guide; so we'll have to take it for granted that
+they mean to dog us all the time, hoping to steal our thunder, if we
+make any lucky find!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE HOME OF THE CLIFF DWELLERS
+
+
+Although Bob had anticipated such a thing, still the knowledge that it
+was actually coming to pass gave him a thrill. For some little time he
+did not say anything; but Frank could see him look uneasily up at the
+walls that now arose sheer above their heads some hundreds of feet.
+
+Frank had studied the situation as well as he could, both from a map of
+the canyon which he found in the little guide book, and his own
+observations. All the while he kept before him that admission on the
+part of the old Moqui whom they had befriended, to the effect that the
+Westering sun shone full in Echo Cave. So he expected to find the home
+of the hermit-scientist high up in the wall on the Eastern side of the
+Grand Canyon.
+
+First he intended heading toward the East, and going just as far as they
+could. Days, and perhaps weeks, might be spent in the search for the
+strange cave that had once been the home of those mysterious cliff
+people, which cavern Professor Oswald was occupying while studying the
+lives and customs of the long departed people who had dug these
+dwellings out of the rock.
+
+At noon they had made good progress; but when the tremendous size of
+that two hundred mile canyon was taken into consideration, with its
+myriad of side "washes," and minor canyons, the distance that they had
+covered was, as Bob aptly declared, but a "flea-bite" compared with the
+whole.
+
+And Frank declared time and again it had been a lucky thought that
+caused his chum to suggest that they bring the field glasses along. They
+were in almost constant use. Far distant scenes were brought close, and
+high walls could be examined in a way that must have been impossible
+with the naked eye.
+
+Of course Frank was particularly anxious to scrutinize every colored
+wall that faced the West. The rainbow tints so plainly marked, tier
+above tier, called out expressions of deep admiration from the two lads;
+but all the while they were on the watch for something besides.
+
+When Frank ranged that powerful glass along the ragged face of a
+towering cliff he was looking eagerly for signs of openings such as
+marked the windows of the homes fashioned by the strange people of a
+past age.
+
+During the afternoon they actually discovered such small slits in the
+rock--at least they looked like pencil markings to them when the guide
+first pointed out the village of the ancient cliff dwellers; though on
+closer acquaintance they found that the openings were of generous size.
+
+"Shall we climb up that straggly path along the face of the wall, and
+see what the old things look like?" asked Bob, as the guide made motions
+upward.
+
+"Yes, we ought to have our first sight of such places," Frank replied,
+in a cautious tone. "Not that I expect we're going to find our hermit
+there, or in any other village that's known to tourist travel. But we
+ought to get an idea of what these places are like, you see. Then we'll
+know better what to expect. And perhaps the conditions will teach us how
+to discover _his_ hiding place."
+
+Accordingly they started to climb upward, just as many other tourists
+had been doing for years. There were even places, "aisles of safety,"
+Bob called them, where one who was ascending, upon happening to meet a
+descending investigator, could squeeze into a hole in the rock until the
+other had slipped by.
+
+Of course it was a risky climb, and no lightheaded person could ever
+dream of taking it. But the two saddle boys were possessed of good
+nerves and able to look downward toward the bottom of the canyon, even
+when several hundred feet up in the air.
+
+Then they entered the first hole. It seemed to be a fair-sized
+apartment, and was connected with a string of others, all running along
+the face of the cliff; so that those who occupied them in the long ago
+might have air and light.
+
+The boys observed everything with the ordinary curiosity expected of
+newcomers. Frank even investigated to see if there were any signs to
+indicate that those old dwellers in the canyon knew about the use of
+fire; and soon decided that it was so.
+
+"Well, what do you think about this?" Bob asked, after they had roamed
+from one room to another. "For my part I think I'd fancy living in one
+of those three story adobe houses of the Hopi Indians, we saw pictures
+of at the hotel; or even a Navajo hogan. But one thing sure, these
+people never had to worry about leaking roofs."
+
+"No," added Frank, laughing; "and floods couldn't bother them, because
+the Colorado never rose three hundred feet since it began cutting out
+this canyon."
+
+"And think of the grand view they had before their doors, with the
+canyon in places as much as thirteen miles across, and mountains in
+their dooryard, looking like anthills," Bob went on impressively.
+
+"Makes a fellow feel mighty small; doesn't it?" Frank remarked, as he
+stepped to a window to look out again.
+
+"Makes me feel that I want to get down again to the trail," admitted
+Bob. "I'm wondering whether it's going to be much harder getting back
+than it was coming up."
+
+"That's always the case," Frank declared, "as I've found out myself when
+climbing up a steep cliff. But the guide is ready for you, Bob, if you
+show signs of getting dizzy. You have seen that he carries a rope along,
+just like the Swiss guides do."
+
+"Oh! come, Frank! Go easy with me; can't you?" the other exclaimed. "I
+hope I'm not quite so bad as that."
+
+"All the same, Bob, don't take any chances; and if you feel the least
+bit giddy, let me know. This is a case where an ounce of prevention is
+better than a pound of cure. And a stout rope is a mighty good thing to
+feel when your foot slips."
+
+It turned out, however, that the Kentucky lad was as sure-footed as a
+mountain goat. He descended the trail, with its several ladders, placed
+there of course by modern investigators, without the least show of
+timidity.
+
+They continued along the bed of the wide canyon. At times they followed
+the ordinary trail. Then again Frank would express a desire to have a
+closer look at some high granite wall that hovered, for possibly a
+thousand feet, above the very river itself; and this meant that they
+must negotiate a passage for themselves.
+
+No doubt John Henry, the guide, must have thought them the queerest pair
+of tourists he had ever led through the mysteries of the Grand Canyon.
+But as yet Frank had not thought fit to enlighten him. He was not
+altogether pleased with the appearance of the guide, and wished to wait
+until he knew a little more about his ways, before entrusting him with
+their secret.
+
+More than a few times during that day Frank believed he had positive
+evidence that they were being watched. Of course they met frequent
+parties of pilgrims wandering this way and that, as they drank in the
+tremendous glories of the canyon; but occasionally the boy believed he
+had seen a head thrust out from behind some rock in their rear, and then
+hastily withdrawn again as he looked.
+
+Of course he could make a guess as to who was taking such a interest in
+the progress of his chum and himself. No one, save Eugene Warringford,
+would bother for even a minute about what they were doing, since richer
+quarry by far than a couple of boys would catch the eye of any lawless
+desperado, like those the two sheriffs were following, bent on making a
+haul.
+
+"Frank," said Bob, when the afternoon was drawing to a close, and they
+had begun to think of picking out the spot where they would spend the
+night; "tell me why you chose to head toward the East instead of the
+other way, where Bright Angel trail attracts so many tourists?"
+
+Frank cast one glance toward the guide, as if to make sure that John
+Henry was far enough in advance not to be able to catch what was said.
+
+"I had a reason, Bob," he remarked, seriously. "Before we got down into
+the canyon, so as to choose which way we would go, I talked with several
+men who were coming up. And Bob, I learned that an old Moqui Indian had
+been seen heading toward the East late last night!"
+
+"And you think it may have been our friend, Havasupai?" asked Bob.
+
+"I'm pretty sure of it, from the descriptions they gave me," came the
+answer.
+
+"But Frank, think how impossible it seems that he could have reached
+here almost as soon as we did; unless the old warrior was able to fly I
+don't see how it could be done."
+
+"I'm just as much up a tree as you are, Bob," laughed the other; "but,
+all the same, I believe the Moqui has arrived, and is on his way right
+now to where Echo Cave lies."
+
+"Then he must have an aeroplane to help him out, for I don't see how
+else he could make it," Bob insisted.
+
+"Think for a minute, and you'll see it isn't actually impossible," Frank
+continued. "He could have made Flagstaff that night, just as we did."
+
+"Yes," admitted Bob, "that's a fact; for while he said he was tired, and
+wanted a mount to fly from his people, who were looking for him, still I
+understand that these Moquis are wonderful runners, and game to the last
+drop of the hat. Oh! I grant you that he could have made Flagstaff that
+night sometime."
+
+"Well, Flagstaff is on the railroad, you know," Frank remarked.
+
+"Sure! I see now what you are hitting at," Bob observed; "the old Indian
+must have had money, as all his kind have, what with the tips given by
+tourists day after day. He could have come to Grand View on the train.
+Frank, once more I knuckle down to your superior wisdom. That's what
+Havasupai must have done, sure pop!"
+
+"Anyhow," the other continued, "it pleases me to believe so; and that
+the Moqui is even now hurrying to make connections with the hermit in
+this mysterious Echo Cave. There's still another reason, though, why I
+picked out this course up the river, instead of going down. It is
+connected with the fact that the Moquis have their homes in this
+quarter."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Bob, "I catch on now to what you mean. The chances are
+that the Moqui would be prowling around within fifty miles of his own
+shack when he ran across the man-with-the-shining-spot-in-his-head,
+otherwise the bald Professor Oswald."
+
+"That's the point, Bob."
+
+"It sure beats everything how you can get on to these things, Frank.
+Here I'm going to be a lawyer some day, so they tell me; and yet I don't
+seem to grab the fine points of this game of hide-and-seek as you do."
+
+"Oh! well," Frank remarked, consolingly; "a lawyer isn't supposed to
+know much about trails, and all such things. That comes to a fellow who
+has spent years outdoors, studying things around him, and keeping his
+wits on edge all the while."
+
+"I hope to keep on learning more and more right along," said Bob.
+
+"Here comes John Henry back, to tell us he has found a good place for
+camping to-night; so no more at present, Bob."
+
+It proved just as Frank had said. The guide declared that as the sun was
+low down, the canyon would soon be darkening; and they ought to make a
+halt while the chance was still good to see what lay around them.
+
+Accordingly they made a camp, and not a great distance away from the
+border of the swirling river that rolled on to pass through all the
+balance of that wonderful gulch, the greatest in the known world.
+
+They had come prepared for this, carrying quite a number of things along
+that would prove welcome at supper time. A cheery fire was soon blazing,
+and the guide busied himself in preparations for a meal; while the two
+boys wandered down to the edge of the river, to throw a few rocks into
+the current, and talk undisturbed.
+
+"There are several other camps not far away," remarked Frank. "I could
+see the smoke rising in two places further on."
+
+"Yes," added Bob, "and there's one behind us too, for I saw smoke rising
+soon after we halted. Perhaps that may be Eugene's stopping place; eh,
+Frank?"
+
+"I wouldn't be surprised one little bit. Just look at the river, how
+silently it pushes along right here. It's deep too; and yet below a mile
+or so it frets and foams among the boulders that have dropped into its
+great bed from the high cliffs."
+
+"And they do say some bold explorers have gone all the way through the
+canyon in a boat; but I reckon it must be a terrible trip," Bob ventured
+to say.
+
+"Excuse us from trying to make it," laughed Frank; "by the time we'd
+reach Mohave City, where that bottle was picked up, there wouldn't be
+much left of us. But let's go back to camp now. John Henry must have
+grub ready."
+
+Three minutes later he suddenly caught Bob's sleeve.
+
+"Wait up!" he whispered. "There's somebody talking to our guide right
+now; and say, Bob, don't you recognize the fellow?"
+
+"If I didn't think it was silly I'd say it was old Spanish Joe, the
+cowboy we had so much trouble with on Thunder Mountain," Bob declared,
+crouching down.
+
+"Well, think again," said Frank; "and you'll remember that Abajo is his
+nephew!"
+
+
+[Illustration: "THERE'S SOMEBODY TALKING TO OUR GUIDE RIGHT NOW."
+
+_Saddle Boys in the Grand Canyon_ _Page 134_]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE TREACHEROUS GUIDE
+
+
+"Why, of course he is," declared Bob; "and it looks as if our old
+enemies had cropped up again, to join forces with the new ones. That
+will make three against us; won't it, Frank?"
+
+"The more the merrier," replied the other, but Bob could see that he was
+inwardly worried over the new phase of the situation.
+
+"Look at the way Spanish Joe is arguing with John Henry!" said Bob. "The
+guide keeps pointing this way, as if he might be afraid we'd come back,
+and see him talking with Old Joe. Now they shake hands, Frank. Do you
+think any bargain has been struck between them?"
+
+"I'm afraid it has," replied his comrade, gritting his teeth with
+displeasure. "John Henry has sold us out, and gone over to the enemy for
+cash. I saw him hide something in his pocket."
+
+"Then what will we do about him?" asked Bob, clenching his fist, as if
+it might give him considerable pleasure to take the treacherous guide
+personally in hand, and teach him the needed lesson.
+
+"That's easy," chuckled Frank. "We'll keep on guard to-night, and when
+he sees how we hang to our guns he won't try any tricks, you may be
+sure."
+
+"And in the morning?" Bob went on.
+
+"Why," declared Frank, firmly; "there's only one thing to be done--we
+must fire John Henry, even if we have to pay him the whole sum agreed on
+for the week."
+
+"I'm glad to hear you say that, Frank; because I'd hate to have him
+along. Why, he might take a notion to step on my fingers when I was
+climbing up after him, and claim it was only an accident, but if I had a
+broken leg, or a cracked skull, that wouldn't do me any good, I take
+it."
+
+"There, Joe is moving off, and we can head for camp," Frank remarked, as
+they still hovered behind the spur of rocks that had concealed them,
+though allowing a view of the little camp.
+
+"But you don't want to tell John Henry that we saw him making a bargain
+with Spanish Joe, I take it?" Bob questioned.
+
+"That's right, we don't; and try to keep from looking as if you
+suspected him. Now his back is turned, come along," and Frank, rising,
+led the way.
+
+The preparations for supper went on apace. The guide was unusually
+talkative, Bob thought, and he wondered whether it was not the result of
+a disturbed conscience. Perhaps John Henry might not be wholly bad, and
+was worried over having entered into an arrangement to betray his
+generous young employers.
+
+"What are we going to do for a guide when we let him go?" asked Bob,
+later on, after they had eaten supper, and John Henry had wandered down
+to the river for a dip, as he said.
+
+"We'll have to trust to luck to pick up another," Frank declared. "And
+if it comes to the worst, we can go it alone, I reckon. I've never been
+up against such a big job as this, but I think I'd tackle it, if I had
+to. But wait and see what another day brings out."
+
+When it came time for them to retire they began talking about their
+ranch habit of standing guard. The guide laughed at the idea of any harm
+coming to pass while they were there in the canyon.
+
+"Lots of other tourists are camping inside of three mile from here," he
+said; "and I heard the sheriff of the county himself is somewhere down
+in the canyon; so it don't look as how there could anything happen. But
+just as you says, boys; if it makes you feel better to stand guard, I
+ain't got a thing agin it."
+
+The night passed without any sort of attack. Either Frank or Bob sat up
+all the time, with a trusty rifle ready; but there was no occasion to
+make use of the weapon.
+
+With the coming of morning they made ready to eat a hasty breakfast.
+After this was over Frank found himself compelled to discharge the
+guide.
+
+"We've concluded to do without your services, John Henry," he said, as
+the man stood ready to start forth on the way along the canyon, heading
+East.
+
+"Me? Let me go? What for?" stammered the fellow; turning red and then
+white as a consciousness of his guilt broke upon him.
+
+"Here's what we promised to pay you for the week," continued Frank. "We
+want no hard feelings about it. Never mind why we let you go. You can
+think what you like. But next time you hire out to a party, John Henry,
+be careful how you let anybody hand you over a few dollars to make you
+turn against your friends."
+
+The man tried to speak, and his voice failed him. They left him standing
+there, holding the bills Frank had thrust into his hand, and looking
+"too cheap for anything," as Bob said. Perhaps he feared that the boys
+might tell what they knew about him, and in this way destroy his
+usefulness as a canyon guide ever afterwards.
+
+"Good riddance to bad rubbish!" declared Bob, after they had gone on
+half a mile, and on looking back saw John Henry still standing there as
+if hardly knowing whether to be sorry, or glad over having received
+full pay for a week after only working a single day.
+
+"And here we are cut loose from everybody, and going it on our own
+hook," laughed Frank. "But it would be foolish for us to think of doing
+without a guide if so be we can find one. We'll ask every party we meet,
+and perhaps in that way we can strike the right man."
+
+During the morning they came upon several parties making the rounds of
+the Wonderland along the beaten channels. Sometimes women were in the
+company, for the strange sights that awaited the bold spirit capable of
+enduring ordinary fatigue tempted others besides men to undertake one of
+the trips.
+
+Just at noon the two boys came upon a lone Chinaman sitting at a little
+fire he had kindled, cooking a fish, evidently pulled from the river by
+means of a hook and line.
+
+"Well, what do you think!" exclaimed Frank, as he stared at the
+Oriental; "Bob, don't you recognize that cousin of our ranch cook, Ah
+Sin, the same fellow who was down at our place five months ago? Hello!
+Charley Moi, what are you doing in the big canyon, tell me?"
+
+The Chinaman jumped up, and manifested more or less joy at the sight of
+Frank. He insisted on shaking hands with both the boys.
+
+"How do? Glad see Flank, Blob! Me, I cook for plarties in Gland Canyon.
+Hear of chance gettee job up Gland View Hotel. Go there now. Alle samee
+like see boys from Circle Lanch. How Ah Sin? Him berry veil last time
+hear samee."
+
+Frank had an idea.
+
+"See here, Charley Moi," he said; "you say you've been about the big
+canyon a long time now, serving as a cook to parties who go up and down.
+Perhaps we might engage you to stay with us!"
+
+"Me cook velly fine much all timee. You tly Charley Moi, you never say
+solly do samee!" declared the Oriental, his moon-like face illuminated
+with a childlike and bland smile.
+
+"But we want you for a guide too, Charley; you ought to know a heap
+about the place by this time," Frank went on.
+
+"Alle light, me do," replied the other, glibly. "No matter, cookee or
+guide, alle samee. Lucky we meet. Tly flish. Just ketchee from water.
+Cook to turnee. Plentee for all. Then go like Flank, Blob say. Sabe?"
+
+As it was nearly noon the boys were quite satisfied to make a little
+halt, and taste the fresh fish which the Chinaman had succeeded in
+coaxing from the rushing waters of the nearby Colorado.
+
+Later on they once again made a start. Charley Moi did everything in his
+power to prove his fidelity and faithfulness. He seemed proud of the
+fact that the son of the big owner of Circle Ranch, where his cousin
+worked as cook for the mess, trusted him, and had employed him as a
+guide. Never before in the history of the Grand Canyon had a Chinaman
+held such an exalted office; and Charley believed he had cause to feel
+proud.
+
+"Can we trust him?" Bob asked, as evening came on again. "I've always
+heard that Chinamen are treacherous fellows."
+
+"Then you've heard what isn't true," Frank replied. "A Chinaman never
+breaks his word. Over in the Far East I've read that all the merchants
+of British cities are Chinese. The Japs are a different kind of people.
+Yes, we can trust Charley Moi. He would never betray us to our enemies."
+
+Nevertheless, that night the boys also slept on their arms, so to speak.
+One of them remained on guard at different times, the entire night.
+Frank had learned caution on the range. He did not mean to be taken by
+surprise; though he really believed that nothing would be done to injure
+them until after they had found some trace of the hidden hermit of Echo
+Cave.
+
+Before another twelve hours had passed he had occasion to change his
+opinion. The night did not bring any alarm in its train. Charley Moi was
+up several times, shuffling around, looking at the fire, and sitting
+there smoking his little pipe, as though in satisfaction over having
+struck such a profitable job so easily; but he gave no sign of holding
+any intercourse with outsiders.
+
+With the coming of morning they were once more on the way. Frank noticed
+with considerable satisfaction that now they seemed to be beyond the
+ordinary limit of the various trails taken by the regular tourist
+parties.
+
+They were walking along, about the middle of the morning, when they
+found themselves in a lonely region, where the dim trail led along the
+foot of rugged walls stretching up, red and apparently unscalable, to
+the height of hundreds of feet.
+
+Frank was craning his neck as he looked up overhead, wondering if it
+could be possible that there was any sign of an abandoned cliff
+dwellers' village there, when he saw something move, and at the same
+instant he jumped forward to pull his chum violently back.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY
+
+
+Bob opened his mouth to call out, and ask what was the matter, that his
+chum had seized upon him so fiercely. But he held his breath, for
+something came to pass just then that made words entirely unnecessary.
+
+A huge rock seemed to slip from its notch up on the side of the cliff,
+and come crashing down, loosening others on the way, until finally the
+rush and roar almost partook of the nature of a small avalanche.
+
+Charley Moi had skipped out in a lively manner, and thus managed to
+avoid being caught. Bob stared at the pile of broken rock, about which
+hung a little cloud of dust.
+
+"Wow! that was as close a call as I ever hope to have, Frank!" he
+exclaimed, with a little quiver to his voice.
+
+Frank himself was a bit white, and his hand trembled as he laid it on
+that of his chum.
+
+"I just happened to be looking up, and saw it trembling on the break,"
+he said. "Only for that we might have been underneath all that stuff."
+
+"But did you notice the clever way Charley Moi avoided the deluge?" said
+Bob, trying to smile, though he found it hard work.
+
+"Yes, it's hard to catch a Chinaman napping, they say," Frank went on.
+"Three times this very day I've heard the thunder of falling rocks, and
+that was what kept me nervous; so I watched out above. And, Bob, it
+seemed as though I must have seen that big rock just trembling as it
+started to leave the face of the cliff."
+
+"Well, all I can say then, is, that you jumped to the occasion mighty
+well. Some fellows would have been scared just stiff, and couldn't have
+thrown out a hand to save a chum. But look here, Frank, you don't
+imagine that thing was done on purpose, do you?"
+
+Frank looked at his companion, with a wrinkle on his forehead.
+
+"I don't want to think anybody could be so mean and low as to want to
+hurt boys who'd never done them any harm," he said; "but all the same I
+seem to have an idea that I got a glimpse of a man's arm when that rock
+started to drop."
+
+"Whew! you give me a cold chill, Frank," muttered Bob, gazing helplessly
+upward toward the spot from which the descending rock had started on its
+riotous tumble.
+
+"Yes, and I hope I was mistaken," Frank went on. "I don't see anything
+up there now; and perhaps it was only a delusion. All these bright
+colors affect the eyes, you see. Then, again, it might have been some
+goat jumping, that started that rock on its downward plunge."
+
+"But you didn't see any goat, Frank, did you?" Bob asked, anxiously.
+
+"No, I didn't," admitted the other; "but then there may be a shelf up
+there, and any animal on it would be hidden from the eyes of those right
+below."
+
+They passed on; but more than once Bob craned his neck in the endeavor
+to look up to that spot, from whence the loose rock had plunged. He
+could not get it out of his head that foes were hovering about, who
+thought so little of human life that they would conspire to accomplish a
+death if possible.
+
+The day passed without any further peril confronting them. Charley Moi
+seemed to fill the bill as a guide, very well. He also knew the
+different points of interest, and chattered away like a magpie or a
+monkey as they kept pushing on.
+
+Bob became curious to know just how the Chinaman could tell about so
+many things when they were now above the trails used ordinarily by
+tourists, who gave two or three days to seeing the Grand Canyon, and
+then rushed away, thinking they had exhausted its wonders, when in fact
+they had barely seen them.
+
+He put the question to Charley Moi, and when the smiling-faced Chinaman
+replied, Frank caught his breath.
+
+"That easy, bloss," said Charley, nodding. "Happen this way. Long time
+black me 'gage with sahib, like one know out in Canton. Think have samee
+big joss some bit up here in canlon. Me to bling grub to certain place
+evly two month. Him give me list what buy, and put cash in hand. Know
+can trust Chinaman ebery time. Many time now me do this; so know how
+make trail up-river, much far past same tourist use. Sabe, Flank, Blob?"
+
+The two boys stared at each other, unable to say a word at first. It was
+as if the same tremendous thought had come to each.
+
+"Gee whiz! did you get on to that, Frank?" finally ejaculated Bob.
+
+"I sure did," replied his chum, allowing his pent-up breath full play.
+
+"Charley says he engaged himself to a gentleman long ago; perhaps it was
+as much as three years back, the time that the professor disappeared
+from the haunts of men. And, Frank, his part of the contract was to come
+to a certain point away up here in the Grand Canyon, once every two
+months, at a time agreed on, bringing a load of food, as per the list
+given him by this mysterious party."
+
+"It must be Professor Oswald!" exclaimed Frank. "I've been wondering all
+the time how under the sun he could have supplied himself with food
+these long months if he'd cut loose from the world, as he said in that
+note he had. Now the puzzle begins to show an answer. Charley Moi is the
+missing link. He has kept the professor in grub all the time. Did you
+ever hear of such luck? First we run across that old Moqui, who has been
+in touch with the man we want to find; and now here's the one who comes
+up here every little while to deliver his goods, and get a new list, as
+well as money to pay for the same. It's just the limit, that's what!"
+
+He turned to the Chinaman, and continued:
+
+"Did you happen to notice, Charley, whether this party you are working
+for is a bald-headed man? Has he a shining top when he takes his hat
+off; and does he bend over, as if he might be hunting for diamonds all
+the time?"
+
+The Chinese guide smirked, and bobbed his head in the affirmative.
+
+"That him, velly much, just same say. Shiny head, and blob this away
+alle time," with which he walked slowly forward, bending over as though
+trying to discover a rich vein of gold in the seamed rock under his
+feet.
+
+"Shake hands, Bob," said Frank. "We're getting hot on the trail. Now we
+needn't have any doubt at all about the choice of the eastern route.
+It's the right one; and somewhere further on we're just bound to find
+Echo Cave."
+
+"Then all we've got to fear, Frank, is the work of Eugene and his crowd.
+Let us keep clear of that bad lot, and we're going to succeed. Any time,
+now, we may glimpse our old Moqui, returning with a message from the
+professor, if he sees fit to reply to your appeal. He may, though, be so
+set and stubborn that nothing will move him from his game of hiding.
+Then we'll have to get that paper, with his signature, and save the mine
+for his family."
+
+"That's what I mean to do," replied the other, with grim determination.
+"If he's so wrapped up in his scheme that he just won't come out, we're
+going to do the best we can to save his fortune in spite of him. There's
+his daughter Janice to think of. Above all, we mustn't let that schemer,
+Eugene Warringford, get his fingers on the document."
+
+That night they made camp in a little cave that offered an asylum. The
+boys rather fancied the idea for a change. And they passed a very
+comfortable night without any alarm.
+
+Once, Bob being on duty near the mouth of the opening, heard a shuffling
+sound without. He could not make out whether it was caused by the
+passage of a human being, or a bear. Half believing that they were about
+to be attacked by some animal that fancied the cave as a den, he had
+drawn back the hammer of his rifle, and watched the round opening that
+was plainly seen at the time, as it was near morning, and the small
+remnant of a moon was shining without.
+
+But he waited in vain, and, as the minutes passed without any further
+alarm, Bob heaved a sigh of relief. It was all very well to think of
+shooting big game; but under such conditions he did not much fancy a
+close battle.
+
+When morning came, and he had told Frank about it, the other immediately
+went out to look for traces of the animal. As he came back Bob saw by
+the expression on his chum's face that Frank had made some sort of
+discovery.
+
+"How about it?" he asked.
+
+"It was no bear," replied the other, decidedly.
+
+"But sure I heard something moving, Frank, and I was wide-awake at the
+time, too," Bob protested.
+
+"I guess you were, all right," Frank admitted. "A man passed by, not far
+from the mouth of the cave. He even stooped down, and looked in, though
+careful not to let his head show against the bright background. Then he
+went off again up the canyon."
+
+"Since you know so much, Frank, perhaps you could give a guess as to who
+he was," said Bob, eagerly.
+
+"No guess about it," came the reply. "I've examined his track before,
+and ought to know it like a book. It was Abajo, Bob!"
+
+"Then ten to one, Spanish Joe and Eugene were close by!" declared Bob.
+"Say, do you really believe he knew we were in here?"
+
+"Of course he did," Frank asserted. "Perhaps they saw us enter. But
+Abajo also knows that both of us are fair shots. He did not dare take
+the chance of trying to creep in. It would be more dangerous than our
+going into that wolf den."
+
+"The plot seems to be thickening, Frank. It won't be long now before
+something is bound to happen. If we could only run across the old Moqui
+now, and hear that he carried a message in answer to your note, that
+would clear the air a heap, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Well, we must live in hopes," replied Frank, cheerfully. "And now,
+after a bite which Charley Moi is getting ready for us, we'll be off
+again, and tackle the roughest traveling in the whole canyon, so he
+says. But he knows the way, because he was led up here by the old
+professor, and told to come back every two months."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE WINDOWS IN THE ROCKY WALLS
+
+
+"Well, here it's the fourth day we've been out, and nothing doing yet,
+Frank!"
+
+Bob spoke gloomily, as though the unsuccessful search was beginning to
+pall upon him a little. Boys' natures differ so much; and while the
+young Kentuckian had many fine qualities that his chum admired, still he
+was not so persistent as Frank.
+
+Nothing could ever daunt the boy from Circle Ranch. Difficulties, he
+believed, were only thrown in his way to bring out the better parts of
+his nature. The more a fellow found himself "up against it," as Frank
+called meeting trouble half-way, the stronger became his character.
+
+"Oh! well, now, Bob, I wouldn't say that," he answered the complaint of
+his chum. "Just think what tremendous progress we've been making right
+along. And if the very worst comes, didn't Charley Moi say that it was
+only a week now before he must get another stock of things to eat, and
+won't he have to wait at the place of meeting, for the 'learned sahib'
+to appear, and take them from him, as he has done so often? Why, we can
+be in hiding nearby, and meet the professor, even against his will."
+
+"That's so," Bob admitted, the argument proving a clincher; "and I
+reckon I'm a silly clown to think anything else."
+
+"No, you're only tired, after a pretty tough day, that's all," Frank
+declared. "When you've had a rest you'll feel better. I'm more used to
+this sort of thing than you are, old fellow; but all the same we must
+admit that we're getting the greatest view ever of this old canyon."
+
+"That's so, Frank, and it's worth all the climbing and sliding, too. But
+every time we've discovered signs of any of those old deserted homes of
+the cliff dwellers, why, we find they've been visited time and again by
+curious folks hoping to discover some treasure, or keepsakes of the
+extinct people. No chance for the old professor to hide away there."
+
+"But pretty soon we're going to discover a new batch of those caves in
+the face of the rock, something unknown to all other searchers. We'll
+find it by the aid of this same glass; and because we're looking for it,
+high up. In all these other cases you see, Bob, there were shelves of
+rock above shelves; and new ladders have been made by the guides, so
+that anybody with nerve could climb up and up. Now these ladders give
+the thing away. And I've somehow got the notion in my head that in the
+case of the rock dwellings where the professor is hiding himself, there
+is no outward sign in the shape of ladders."
+
+"But in that case, Frank, how under the sun could the old fellows ever
+get up to their dens, which you said must be near the top of a high
+cliff?"
+
+"Well, that's something we're going to find out later on, you see,"
+replied the other, serenely. "Perhaps they had some way of lowering
+themselves from the top by means of a rope, or a stout, wide grape vine.
+Then, again, there may be some cleft in the rock farther away, that no
+one would notice; but which was used as a trail, running up into the
+cliff, and to the rock houses."
+
+"It does take you to figure out these things," declared Bob, in
+admiration, as they trudged along, with Charley Moi in advance.
+
+"Then we haven't yet got to the place where the Chinese buyer meets his
+employer with the eatables?" Bob remarked after a little silence.
+
+"The last time I asked him he kept saying it was only a little farther
+along," replied Frank.
+
+"There, look at him stopping right now; and Frank, he's grinning at us
+in a way that can only mean one thing. That must be where he always
+waits for the queer old gentleman to show up."
+
+"How about that, Charley; is this the place where you hang out?" asked
+Frank, as they hastened to join the guide.
+
+"Allee samee place," replied Charley Moi, waving his yellow hand around
+him. "Not know where shaib come fromee, always turn roundee rock," and
+he pointed to a large outlying mass that had, ages ago, become detached
+from the towering cliff overhead, and fallen in such a fashion as to
+partly obstruct the canyon trail.
+
+Frank looked around him eagerly.
+
+"We must be getting warmer all the time," he remarked; "and if you just
+take a look at that river right now, you'll see that up yonder the rock
+rises up almost from its very flood. When the water is high it must
+sweep along against the face of that big cliff. And Bob, something seems
+to tell me that somewhere inside of a mile or so, we're going to find
+what we're looking for."
+
+"Oh! I hope so!" echoed Bob, with a look of expectancy on his face; for
+he always put great reliance on the common sense of his chum; and when
+Frank said a thing in that steady tone, the Kentucky boy believed it
+must be so.
+
+Frank called a halt then and there.
+
+"We're tired, anyway," he said, "and might as well spend the night here.
+Besides, I just want to find a place were I can take a good look through
+the glass up at that cliff near the top. It faces the West, all right,
+you see; and the indications are that somewhere or other I'll find
+signs of the queer windows belonging to some of those cave houses."
+
+The camp was made, and Charley Moi busied himself with his fire. Bob had
+some things he wished to attend to; while Frank took the glass, and,
+settling down in a place where he believed he could get a fair view of
+the upper strata of colored rock, began carefully scrutinizing the
+cliff.
+
+"The time is right, because the old Indian said the Westering sun shone
+in the mouth of Echo Cave," Frank mused, as he pursued his work, not
+disappointed because failure came in the beginning.
+
+Frank had been at work possibly six or eight minutes when he gave
+utterance to a low exclamation. Then he fixed his field glasses upon a
+certain spot as though something had caught his attention there.
+
+"Bob!" he called out.
+
+"Want me?" asked his chum from the spot where the fire was burning.
+
+"Yes, come here please," Frank continued.
+
+Bob quickly complied with the request. He knew that although his
+camp-mate spoke in such a quiet tone, he had evidently made a discovery.
+Frank could repress his feelings even in a moment of great excitement,
+which was something beyond the ability of the more impetuous Kentucky
+lad.
+
+"What have you found, Frank?" he asked, as he reached the side of the
+other.
+
+"Here, take the glass," said Frank. "Point it toward that little cone
+that seems to rise up like a chimney above the level of the cliff top.
+Got it now? Well, let your glass slowly drop straight down the face of
+the rock. Never mind the glint of the sun, and the fine rich color. I
+know it's just glorious, and all that; but we're after something more
+important now than pictures and color effects. What do you see, Bob?"
+
+"Honest now, I believe you've hit the bulls-eye this time, Frank."
+
+"Then you think they're windows, about after the same style as those
+holes in the rock where we climbed up the ladders to the deserted homes
+of the old time cliff dwellers?" asked the other.
+
+"Sure they are; no mistake about it, either," replied Bob, and then he
+gave a low exclamation.
+
+"What did you see?" demanded Frank, as if suspecting the truth.
+
+"I don't know," came the reply; "but something seemed to move just
+inside one of those openings. It may have been a garment fluttering in
+the breeze that must be blowing so far up the heights; and then, again,
+perhaps some hawk, or other bird, has its nest there, and just flew
+past. I couldn't say, Frank; but I saw _something_, and it moved!"
+
+Frank took the glass, and looked long and earnestly.
+
+"Whatever it was," he remarked, "it doesn't mean to repeat the act. But
+all the same, Bob, I've got a hunch we've found the place, and that Echo
+Cave lies far up yonder in that beetling cliff."
+
+"It's a fierce reach up there," remarked Bob, as he scanned the height.
+"How under the sun d'ye suppose that old professor could ever get up and
+down? Too far for him to have a rope ladder; and even if he had, how
+could he reach the place at first? Frank, all the way up, I can't see
+the first sign of any rock shelves, where ladders might have rested long
+ago."
+
+"That's so," replied the other, reflectively. "The face of the cliff is
+as even and smooth as a floor. Nobody would ever look to find a cluster
+of cliff dwellers' homes up there; that is, nobody but a man like
+Professor Oswald, who has made a life study of such things, and knows
+all the indications. But something tells me we're pretty near the end of
+our long trail. The only question now is, how can we get in touch with
+the hermit of Echo Cave?"
+
+As night settled down the two boys returned to the fire, still
+perplexed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+FINDING A WAY UP
+
+
+That night they kept no fire going. Frank seemed to think it best that
+they remain quiet, so as not to announce their presence in the
+neighborhood. Though for that matter, it would seem that if any one were
+perched aloft in one of those slits in the face of the cliff, that
+represented the windows of the cave dwellings, the entire canyon below
+must be spread out like a book.
+
+Nothing happened to disturb them. Once Frank thought he heard a distant
+shout, and this excited his curiosity not a little. According to what
+Charley Moi said they were now in a neighborhood where ordinary tourists
+never visited.
+
+He thought of the two sheriffs and the lawless men they were pursuing.
+Could it be possible that they were destined to run across those
+desperate characters sooner or later?
+
+The thought was a disquieting one. It served to make Frank wakeful, and
+his restlessness was communicated to Bob, although the latter did not
+know what caused it.
+
+But if the fugitives from justice were loitering around in that
+particular part of the Grand Canyon, either hiding from the determined
+sheriffs, or looking for rich quarry, neither they or anyone else
+disturbed the camp of the saddle boys.
+
+Again, in the morning, Charley Moi lighted a fire, and made ready to
+prepare a modest breakfast. As Bob had said, their supplies were running
+low, and unless something happened very soon the Chinaman would have to
+be dispatched to the nearest store to replenish the food.
+
+Still thinking of the sound he had heard during the night, and which he
+believed must have been a human voice, rather than the cry of some wild
+animal, Frank, while they sat cross-legged around the fire, eating the
+scanty meal, addressed himself to the Chinaman.
+
+"How many times have you come up this far, Charley Moi?" he asked.
+
+The other commenced to figure on his fingers. Having no counting board,
+used so frequently by his countrymen in laundries, until they get
+accustomed to the habits of the white man, he took this means of
+tabulating.
+
+"Allee fingers and this much over," and he held up the first and second
+fingers of one hand.
+
+"Ten and two, making twelve in all," declared Bob. "Well, you have
+served the man-with-the-bald-head faithfully and long, Charley."
+
+"And in all these times I suppose you've never known anybody to be
+around here?" Frank went on.
+
+Charley shook his head in the negative.
+
+"White man, no. Sometime Moqui come 'long, make for stlore down canlon
+get glub. See same two, thlee times. Charley Moi see old Moqui last
+night," the Chinaman replied.
+
+"What's that you say?" demanded Frank, hastily. "That you saw a Moqui
+last night, and after we had come to halt right here?"
+
+"Thatee so," grinned the other, as though pleased to feel that he was
+able to interest Frank so readily.
+
+"Just when did this happen, Charley Moi?" pursued the other.
+
+"Flank, Blob, down by river, make muchee look-look in glass," answered
+Charley.
+
+"Now, what d'ye think of that?" ejaculated Bob, in disgust. "While we
+were away from camp for ten minutes, something happened. Why couldn't it
+have come about when we were on deck? There's a fine chance lost to get
+track of Havasupai; for I reckon you believe the same as I do, Frank,
+and that the old Moqui whom Charley saw was _our_ Indian?"
+
+"Seems like it, Bob," replied the other, "but don't cry yet. Perhaps it
+may not be too late to remedy matters. See here, Charley Moi, could you
+show me just where you saw this Moqui last?"
+
+The yellow-skinned guide smirked, and nodded his head until his pigtail
+bobbed up and down like a bell rope.
+
+"Easy do," he observed, beginning to get upon his feet.
+
+"Come along Bob," remarked Frank. "We'd all better be present. Three
+heads are better than one when it comes to a question of deciding what's
+to be done."
+
+"Do you think you can track him, Frank?" questioned the Kentucky boy,
+eagerly.
+
+"I'm going to try," was all Frank would say; for he was very modest with
+regard to his accomplishments as a son of the prairie.
+
+Charley Moi was as good as his word. He seemed to remember just where he
+had happened to spy the passing Indian when looking up from the making
+of the fire. The Moqui had paid no attention to him; indeed, at the time
+he was creeping past as though taking advantage of the absence of the
+two boys in order to make a circuit of the camp near the big cliff.
+
+"Find 'em Frank?" asked Bob, after he had seen his chum bending down
+over the ground for half a minute.
+
+"Yes, and they are the tracks of an Indian too, for they toe in," Frank
+replied. "Besides, they are made by moccasins instead of shoes or boots
+with heels. And if I needed any further proof to tell me our friend
+Havasupai made these tracks, and not a strange Moqui, I have it in the
+queer patch across the toe of his right moccasin, which I noticed when
+he was with us before."
+
+"That's just fine!" Bob exclaimed, filled with pride over the way in
+which his chum seemed able to fix the facts so that they could not be
+questioned. "And will you start after him right away, Frank?"
+
+"Watch me; that's all," came the reply, as Frank began to move away,
+still bending low in order to follow the faint traces of footprints on
+the rock and scanty soil.
+
+The others came close at his heels, Bob with a look of assurance on his
+face, because he felt positive that the game would now be tracked to its
+hiding place; and Charley Moi picturing his wonder on his moon-like
+countenance.
+
+So the prairie lad led them in and out among the rocks, and the scrub
+that grew close to the verge of the river. Several times he seemed a
+little in doubt, as the marks faded entirely away; but on such occasions
+his common-sense came to the rescue, and, after a look around, Frank was
+able to once more find the trail.
+
+"Here's where it ends!"
+
+When Frank made this remark Bob could not keep from expressing his
+surprise.
+
+He gaped upward at the bare-faced wall that arose for hundreds of feet,
+without any particular ledge or outcropping where even a nimble Indian
+could find safe lodgment for his moccasined feet.
+
+"But, Frank, however could the old Moqui get up there to see Uncle
+Felix?" he asked. "D'ye suppose he made some sort of signal, and the
+hermit lowered a long rope with a noose at the end, which would draw him
+up? Wow! excuse me from ever trying to fly in that way! It would make me
+so dizzy I'd be sure to drop, and get smashed."
+
+"You're beating on the wrong track, Bob," remarked the other. "No rope
+could be lowered all that distance; and even if it could no one man
+would be able to pull another all the way up."
+
+"But there must be some way of getting to the place where the slits in
+the face of the cliff tell of windows. However do you think he did it,
+Frank?"
+
+"Just because you don't happen to see a ladder, Bob, is no evidence
+there isn't a way to mount upward. One thing about this great cliff I
+guess you didn't happen to notice. That shows you pass things by. Look
+again, and you'll see that it seems to have been split by some volcanic
+smash, ages ago. There's a regular crevice running slantingly up the
+face of the rock. You see it now, don't you?"
+
+"Sure I do; and I was blind not to take notice of the same before," Bob
+replied. "Fact is, I did see that uneven mark, but just thought it was a
+fault in the make of the cliff, as a miner would say."
+
+"Well, that crack extends four-fifths of the way up to the top; and far
+enough to reach the place where we noticed all those dark marks, which
+we believed must be windows of the many rooms or houses of the cliff
+dwellers. Get that, Bob?"
+
+"Sure I do, Frank, and after your explanation I can see what you're
+aiming at. But where does that ragged crevice start from down here, do
+you think?"
+
+Frank stepped forward. Just as if he had it all figured out, he bent
+down, and with his hand drew aside the bushes that grew against the base
+of the cliff.
+
+"Well, I declare, there it is for a fact!" exclaimed Bob, as he saw a
+rough opening before him, which came almost together five feet from the
+ground, leaving only a dark, uneven, slanting line that crawled up the
+face of the cliff like the photograph of a zigzag bolt of lightning
+taken with a snapshot camera.
+
+"There you are," said Frank, with a broad smile. "Unless all signs fail,
+here's the entrance to the mysterious Echo Cave. We have been more than
+lucky to find it with so little trouble."
+
+"Just to think of it," remarked Bob, as he bent over to look up into the
+gap as well as he was able; "here's where the queer old Professor has
+been hiding for all this time, and no one any the wiser. But Frank,
+however in the wide world do you suppose he found out the way to get up
+there?"
+
+"We would have found it sooner or later, even if Charley Moi had not
+seen the old Indian moving along," replied Frank, with the confidence of
+one who knows what he is talking about.
+
+"Y--yes, I reckon we would, after you'd prowled around a little, and had
+some chance to look the ground over. Then you believe he must have found
+the presence of those windows looking out of the cliff just like we did;
+by using a powerful glass? And, thinking that here was the very place
+for him to hide and study, he set about looking for the road up, and
+found it, very likely."
+
+"He did it by using common sense, and applying all he knew about the
+ways of these people of the long ago," replied Frank. "And you can see
+that if he chose, he could have thrown that bottle out of one of the
+openings up there, so that it would drop in the passing current of the
+Colorado, to be carried down-stream until somebody saw it; and finding
+the message to my father, sent or carried it to Circle Ranch."
+
+"Well," observed Bob, with a gleam in his eye, "now that we've found a
+way to get up to Echo Cave, have we the nerve to start in?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+FORTUNE STILL FAVORS THE BRAVE
+
+
+Instead of replying at once to this question, as Bob undoubtedly thought
+his chum would do, Frank seemed to give a start. He dropped to his hands
+and knees, and seemed to be examining some marks on the ground.
+
+If ever the fair knowledge of reading tracks which Frank possessed was
+called upon to do duty, it was now. Bob, of course, could not understand
+what possessed his comrade; but simply stood there and stared, wondering
+what Frank had found to cause him to exhibit such breathless interest,
+and all the signs of unusual excitement.
+
+When finally the lad on his knees did look up, Bob saw a grave
+expression on his face.
+
+"There's something wrong, Frank; tell me what it is?" he demanded.
+
+"I've made an unpleasant discovery, Bob," replied the other. "Charley!"
+he added turning to the wondering Celestial, "go back to our camp, and
+bring our guns right away, both of them, see?"
+
+"Yep, bloss, me unelstand. Charley Moi gettee gluns light away quick!"
+and as he said this the obliging Chinaman went on a run, his pigtail and
+blue blouse flying out behind him.
+
+"Say, whatever does all this mystery mean, Frank?" asked Bob, almost
+helplessly.
+
+"Just what you might imagine; that there's danger hanging about us,
+Bob."
+
+The eyes of the astonished Bob sought the ground at the point where his
+chum had been so deeply interested.
+
+"Then it must be something you just discovered there, and that's a
+fact," he declared; "because you didn't act this way three minutes ago."
+
+"I happened to discover footprints coming from another quarter," Frank
+went on, calmly; "and they headed into this crevice, just as those of
+the moccasined Moqui did from that side. And they came after old
+Havasupai had gone up, for I found where they wiped out a part of one of
+his tracks."
+
+"Footprints, and were they made by the old professor, do you think?"
+asked Bob.
+
+"Not any. Fact is," observed Frank, as though deciding to have the worst
+over, "they were the tracks of three persons, all men!"
+
+"Oh! my! three, you said, Frank; and that would mean Eugene, Spanish
+Joe, and Abajo, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Just the very ones I meant," replied Frank.
+
+"Then they must have been hiding some place near here, and saw the Moqui
+pass in?" suggested Bob, fully aroused by now.
+
+"That seems to be what happened," Frank observed. "But here comes
+Charley Moi with the guns. See how he dodges about, so as to keep hidden
+from the view of anybody up in those windows above, which we can't
+glimpse from here."
+
+When Bob eagerly took his repeating rifle from the hands of the Chinaman
+he exhibited all the evidence of great satisfaction; for he heaved a
+sigh of relief, and fondled his weapon in a way that caused his comrade
+to smile.
+
+"I feel better now," Bob confessed; "because, to tell the honest truth,
+when you broke the news so suddenly it nearly gave me heart failure,
+Frank, to think that if those rascals sprang out at us we would be next
+door to helpless. Now let 'em be careful how they play their little
+game. But what does it all mean, do you suppose, Frank?"
+
+"I can only make a guess, and that may be wide of the truth," the other
+admitted. "By some accident they managed to get on the track of the
+Moqui. Though Havasupai thought himself smart, he was no match for such
+a cunning rascal as Spanish Joe, who is said to be the best trailer
+along the Arizona border. And they followed him right here."
+
+"That was last evening, just when you and I stood there down by the
+river, looking through the glasses up at the windows of the rock houses
+above," remarked Bob.
+
+"Yes. Perhaps they didn't go up right then." Frank went on. "I admit
+that I can't just make out how long ago these tracks were made. A better
+trailer might, you see, Bob. If Old Hank Coombs were only here now I'd
+be glad to turn the whole business over to him, and play second fiddle."
+
+"But some time between dark and morning these three rascals went in
+here, and surprised the hermit of Echo Cave--is that it, Frank?"
+
+"It covers the case all right," came the reply.
+
+"Say, do you think they are up there yet?" asked the Kentucky lad, in an
+anxious tone.
+
+"I think they must be, Bob, because all the tracks point one way,
+showing that the three men never came back. If they left the cave it
+must have been by some other way."
+
+"No use asking why they would want to get in touch with Uncle Felix!"
+continued Bob, as if bent on finding out everything he could in
+connection with the case.
+
+"We know what their reason was," Frank made answer. "When Abajo, hanging
+about the window of our ranch house, heard what we had to say about the
+message that came floating down the Colorado in that bottle, and carried
+the wonderful news to his employer, Eugene Warringford, he set the game
+going that must end right here. He has come with the intention of making
+Professor Oswald turn over that option to him; and he'll do it unless
+something we can offer prevents."
+
+"But Frank, if the Moqui carried that note of yours to Uncle Felix, he
+would be on his guard, and absolutely refuse to sign away the papers?"
+
+"I hope he will, but I fear that those three scamps are up there right
+now, trying to coax or bulldoze him into signing," Frank said, with a
+tightening of his lips, and a flash of his clear eyes.
+
+"Then we go up, and put a spoke in their wheel, do we?" asked Bob,
+looking as if he were ready to make the start instantly, if his comrade
+but gave the word.
+
+Frank glanced around him a little uncertainly.
+
+"I've got a good notion to try it," he muttered as if talking to
+himself.
+
+"What's that you say, Frank?" asked his companion, who had caught the
+words, and did not know what to make of them.
+
+"I didn't tell you, Bob," Frank remarked; "but during the night I
+thought I heard a voice calling far away yonder. And somehow it struck
+me at the time that there was a familiar cowboy yell about it."
+
+"Old Hank Coombs, perhaps, Frank?" suggested the other lad, quickly.
+
+"That was on my mind, Bob. You know history often repeats itself. Once
+before, just when we seemed to need Hank the worst way, he came riding
+along as if he had heard us call. And I was wondering whether he might
+not be somewhere around here right now."
+
+"That would be just prime, if only we could get in touch with him," Bob
+declared. "And, as your father wouldn't send Hank alone, there'd be one
+more cowboy along. That would make a party of four. Why, those three
+rascals would just shrivel, and throw up the sponge, if they saw us
+break in on 'em. But Frank, how about making the old range call?"
+
+"D'ye know, I was just thinking it might do to try it," remarked the
+other.
+
+"Then start in and give the whoop," Bob observed. "No harm done anyhow;
+even if they hear it up there. And while you're doing all that, I'll
+just drop on one knee here, and cover the crack in the wall. Suppose one
+of the lot should try and come out while we were off our guard. I'll
+make him surrender quicker than he can say 'Jack Robinson'!"
+
+Presently there sounded upon the morning air the clear "cooee" of the
+range, particularly well known to every cowboy who had worked at Circle
+Ranch. Frank and Bob listened eagerly to learn whether there would come
+any response. If not, then they must take up the task of climbing that
+singular crevice by themselves; and finding out how affairs stood above.
+
+Their suspense was short-lived, for quickly there floated to their
+waiting ears a responsive call. Turning toward the quarter from whence
+it seemed to come they saw a hat waving.
+
+"It's Old Hank, sure it is!" exclaimed Bob, with a thrill of delight;
+for the burden of going up against three desperate characters was more
+than boy nature could stand without more or less uneasiness.
+
+"That's Chesty with him," announced Frank, as two figures were
+discovered coming toward them. "Why, if we'd made all the arrangements
+ourselves we couldn't have done better, Bob. Here comes our
+reinforcements just in the nick of time. And if Eugene and his backers
+are still up yonder in the cliff dwellers' homes, they have stayed a
+little while too long, that's all."
+
+In another three minutes the boys were shaking hands with Old Hank and
+Chesty; the latter with a cheerful grin on his face, as though he
+considered it quite a joke to break in on Frank's game at the finishing
+point.
+
+Of course they were ignorant as to how matters stood. And Frank took
+upon himself the task of explaining all that had happened.
+
+"Ther up yonder yet, then," announced Hank, after he had carefully
+inspected the footprints, and noted that they all pointed one way; "that
+is to say, if they ain't got an airyplane along as would allow of them
+flying off. An' Frank, when ye sez the word we'uns are goin' t' walk up
+this rock ladder t' see what sorter place the ole perfessor keeps."
+
+"Then I say it now," declared Frank, anxious to have the thing settled
+one way or the other without further delay.
+
+"Foller arter me, all of ye!" called the old plainsman, as he plunged
+into the gap.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+ANOTHER SURPRISE
+
+
+"One thing, we won't need torches this time, Hank!" remarked Bob as he
+prepared to follow after the leader.
+
+"I reckons not, Bobby," chuckled the veteran cowman, who knew that
+something about the situation must have recalled their entering that
+cave that day where sly old Sallie and her half-grown whelps awaited
+their coming with bared teeth.
+
+Just back of Hank came Chesty, who was a very ambitious young fellow,
+and always to be counted on with regard to obtaining his proper share in
+every little excitement that happened. Then Frank filed along; and at
+his heels Bob climbed; while Charley Moi brought up the rear, bent on
+seeing all that might come to pass.
+
+The crevice immediately began to mount upward, just as Frank had
+anticipated it would. There were times when the climbing was pretty
+steep, and Frank began to wonder what sort of agile man this old and
+stubborn Professor Oswald could be, to overcome such difficulties so
+often, while in the pursuit of his hobby.
+
+Bob was soon panting, but no less bent on "keeping up with the
+procession," as he himself put it. They had been going back from the
+face of the cliff pretty much all the time, so that there was really no
+chance to take an observation, in order to tell just how far up they had
+come.
+
+Frank felt sure, however, after this labor had kept up for quite a long
+time, that they must now be getting near the top of the break, or where
+the crooked crack in the face of the rock ended.
+
+He tried to picture what they would find. If Eugene and his reckless
+backers had been in possession of the place for some hours now, they
+must have tried all sorts of expedients in order to compel the professor
+to reveal the secret hiding place of the valuable document, and make it
+over to them. Nor would such heartless men hesitate long about adopting
+torture in order to force a confession from the unwilling victim.
+
+Then Frank wondered if the three rascals would attempt any tactics
+looking to holding the attacking force at bay. They were well armed, no
+doubt, and having such a rich treasure hanging in the scales, it might
+be expected that they would hate to let it slip from their covetous
+grasp without putting up some sort of fight.
+
+But all that could be left to Old Hank. For many years he had been the
+leading figure in all the affairs that centered around Circle Ranch. Did
+the rustlers run off part of the herd, the veteran was put in charge of
+the pursuing force. Sometimes the sly marauders got off scot free; but
+more often they paid dearly for their audacity in picking out Colonel
+Haywood's ranch as the scene of their foray.
+
+Frank really had no fears as to the result, now that Hank had arrived on
+the scene to direct operations. The three schemers might give them some
+trouble, but they could not carry the day.
+
+"Please let a fellow rest up a little, Hank!" came from Bob, finally.
+
+The old cow puncher understood that the pace had been too warm for the
+tenderfoot; and he considerately halted. Perhaps none of the climbers
+were averse to a breathing spell before the final round. It would put
+them in better condition for the wind-up, whatever that might prove to
+be.
+
+"Frank," whispered Bob, as he pulled at the trouser leg of his chum so
+as to induce him to bend down closer.
+
+"What's the row?" asked the other, in somewhat the same guarded tone, as
+he managed to double over, and bring his face close to that of his
+friend.
+
+"Charley Moi has just told me something," Bob went on. "You know we
+found out before now that he's got the greatest pair of ears ever for
+hearing things? Well, he says there's something or some one following us
+up this old crack!"
+
+"Whew! that's nice, now. A regular procession, it seems," remarked
+Frank.
+
+"Who d'ye think it can be; and would a bear or a mountain lion pick up
+our tracks this way?" continued Bob, who was trying to work his rifle
+around, so as to cover the rear.
+
+"Wait! Let's all listen, after I send the word along to Hank and
+Chesty," remarked Frank.
+
+When this had been done even the old cowman thought well enough of the
+idea to wait until they could find out the nature of the sounds that had
+reached the keen hearing of the wide-awake Chinaman.
+
+It was only half light in the break of the rock, and the passage they
+had been following thus far was so very crooked that no one could see
+more than twenty feet down the trail.
+
+Still every eye was fastened on that point where the advancing man or
+animal would first appear. Frank, too, had his rifle bearing on the
+spot; and taken as a whole the appearance of the little company,
+flattened out against the break in the mighty rock wall, was rather
+threatening.
+
+All of them could catch the sounds below now. Whoever came up the rock
+ladder must be unused to negotiating such a stairway, for they rattled
+small bits of loose shale down at times; and Frank felt sure he could
+hear a panting sound, very much like that which tired Bob had been
+making a minute ago.
+
+And, as he listened, Frank made a discovery that caused him to tighten
+his grip on that reliable repeating rifle. There were two of the
+pursuers! And he anticipated that the leader must come in sight ere
+another dozen seconds passed!
+
+There was some sort of movement now, down in the region of the little
+twist where the steep stairway of the old cliff dwellers made a turn.
+Then a head and shoulders came into view.
+
+Frank chuckled aloud. Just in almost that last second of time he had
+suddenly guessed the truth, when, in this clinging figure that was
+staring upward, as though filled with genuine surprise, he recognized an
+old friend.
+
+It was Mr. Stanwix, the sheriff of the county!
+
+He and his mate from the adjoining division of Coconino must have just
+had a glimpse of Charley Moi disappearing in the dark hole at the base
+of the cliff; and, being in pursuit of two shrewd law breakers, who had
+been known to appear in other dress than that of cowmen, perhaps the
+officers had concluded that here was something that ought to be
+investigated.
+
+Frank immediately made a friendly gesture with one hand. He did not want
+to risk the chances of being fired upon by the officers of the law, who
+might take the little party for bad men. Then he beckoned in a fashion
+that the sheriff must readily understand to mean caution, and silence.
+
+They saw Mr. Stanwix bend down as though he might be explaining to his
+fellow officer what an astonishing thing had happened. After that he
+came on, climbing the steep rock ladder as an exhausted person might.
+Yet his nature was like that of the bulldog; and once he had started to
+do a thing, nothing could make him stop.
+
+When he arrived at a point where he could make his way alongside Frank,
+squeezing past Charley Moi and Bob, the sheriff of Yavapai County turned
+an inquiring look upon his young friend.
+
+Whereupon Frank started in to tell him just who the other three in the
+party happened to be; and that they were bent upon foiling the lawless
+game of three rascals plotting for a big stake.
+
+In return Mr. Stanwix intimated that they had suspected something wrong
+when they saw from a little distance two persons, and one of them a
+Chinaman, disappearing in a cleft of the rocks. Further explanations
+must await a better opportunity, however. They were now too near the
+series of chambers connecting with one another to hesitate longer.
+
+Besides, who could say what might not be going on up there a little
+further, in those holes in the wall where, ages ago, the singular people
+whom Professor Oswald loved to study about, had their homes, and lived
+on from year to year?
+
+Old Hank, when he once more started upward, seemed to have become much
+more cautious. Frank could easily guess the reason. There was a strong
+possibility that the three schemers might have learned of their presence
+in the vicinity ere now. And of course Eugene knew full well why Frank
+and Bob had come to the Grand Canyon from their ranch home.
+
+Suspecting that sooner or later the two boys might discover the way up
+to the cliff house, they would be apt to lay a trap of some sort,
+thinking to catch them napping when they ascended.
+
+Old Hank could not be taken unawares any easier than might the wary
+weasel that has never been seen asleep by mortal eyes.
+
+Frank, keeping well up by the heels of the little cowboy's boots, was
+ready to draw himself upward at the first sign of trouble. He knew when
+Hank had reached the top of the singular stairway fashioned by Nature
+for the benefit of those who built their habitations near the top of
+the cliff, far beyond the reach of enemies in the valley below.
+
+A few seconds of suspense followed, while Chesty was following the
+veteran into the first hollowed-out apartment. Nothing followed where
+Frank had been expecting all manner of evil things.
+
+"Perhaps they're asleep," was the new thought that flashed through his
+brain. He did not know what manner of man Uncle Felix was.
+
+Now they were all gathered there in that outer chamber that might be
+called an ante-room of the various apartments running along the face of
+the cliff for some distance.
+
+Even Charley Moi was there, full of curiosity, and willing to lend a
+hand after a fashion. Bob looked around; just as his chum had done as
+soon as he entered. He saw that some one had certainly been there
+recently. There were plenty of evidences to that effect.
+
+Old Hank raised his hand with the forefinger elevated. It was recognized
+as a signal for absolute silence by all the others. Even Bob restrained
+his desire to ask questions; and every one listened, as if expecting to
+catch sounds.
+
+Was that a human voice?
+
+Frank started a trifle as the idea came to him. Still, it might only
+have been an additionally strong movement of the breeze; turning some
+angle that caused it to give forth a sound.
+
+He turned to see if any of the others had heard, and judged from the way
+old Hank had his head raised that he, too, had caught the sound; also
+that it appealed to him as full of significance.
+
+Again the veteran waved his hand. This time it meant not only caution,
+but an invitation to advance. Hank was about to pass into the next
+apartment, and wished the others to keep close at his heels.
+
+Bob was quivering all over with the fever of suspense, as well as
+pent-up eagerness. He did not know just how much longer he could hold
+in; for he wanted to yell. Still, he did not do it. Since coming to this
+wonderland country of the Southwest he had learned many lessons in the
+way of self control; and every day he was gaining more and more of a
+mastery over himself.
+
+Now Hank was in the second room, and still heading onward toward another
+hole in the wall, evidently the only means of communication between the
+various houses forming the little community.
+
+When he reached this, voices were plainly heard beyond. Hank kept right
+on, heading for yet a third doorway; and whoever was doing the talking,
+he or they must be in that further apartment; so that in another minute
+Frank expected to have his curiosity fully satisfied.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE LITTLE OLD MAN OF ECHO CAVE
+
+
+"You admit you have carried the document with you, and that it's only a
+question of refusing to produce it, Professor?"
+
+Frank recognized that drawling voice. He had heard his father's cousin,
+Eugene Warringford, speak many times, and generally in this slow way.
+But Frank also knew that back of his apparently careless manner there
+was more or less venom. Eugene could hate, and hide his feelings in a
+masterly manner. He could smile, and then strike behind the back of the
+one with whom he was dealing. And somehow his very drawling voice always
+made Frank quiver with instinctive dislike.
+
+"I admit nothing, sir," came another voice, quick and nervous, yet with
+a firmness that told of considerable spirit. "You come upon me in my
+retreat without an invitation, and at first claim to be a warm admirer
+of my work, which you seem to have studied fairly well. But now you are
+taking the mask off, sir; and I can recognize the wolf under the sheep's
+clothing."
+
+Frank had heard that the old scientist, though a small man, was full of
+grit; and he could well believe it after hearing him speak.
+
+And Bob, who crouched close at the side of his chum, gave Frank a nudge
+as if to say: "What do you think of that for nerve; isn't he the limit,
+though?"
+
+Eugene laughed in his lazy way at being accused of evil intentions.
+Apparently he had about made up his mind that there was no use in longer
+beating about the bush. He had the old gentleman cooped up in this
+isolated place, where no assistance could possibly reach him. And backed
+up himself by a couple of reckless rascals, no doubt Eugene considered
+himself in a position to demand obedience.
+
+"Well, my dear old gentleman," he remarked, and by the sound Frank
+imagined the fellow must be lighting a fresh cigarette, for he seemed to
+puff between the words; "just as you say, what's the use of carrying the
+joke on any longer. Let's be brutally frank with each other from now
+on."
+
+"Very well," replied the other, quickly. "Here's the situation then, in
+a nutshell. You suddenly appear before me, with a couple of men you
+claim are guides, but whom I have every reason to believe are low
+minions who are simply in your pay."
+
+"Careful, Professor," Eugene broke in. "I'd advise you to go a bit
+slow. These men talk English, if they do look like Mexicans; and they
+may resent being called rascals."
+
+"Let that pass," continued the hermit of Echo Cave, as though waving the
+matter aside contemptuously. "At any rate, you come suddenly into my
+habitation here, where I have spent many happy months in solitude,
+wrapped up in my studies of the people of the cliffs, who spent their
+lives in this very place, and who have left many traces of their customs
+behind. My work is almost finished, and in another week I expected
+leaving here for civilization, with a masterly book on the subject that
+has mystified the world for a century."
+
+"Come to the point, Professor," broke in the man with the drawl; "and
+keep all this about your studies for those of your kind, who may
+appreciate them. We are concerned only about one thing; and that is a
+certain paper which you will presently take from its hiding-place, sign
+over to me, and then finish your labors here in peace. Understand that?"
+
+"By good luck I was forewarned," the sharp voice went on; "and hence I
+made sure not to carry that document on my person. You have taken the
+liberty of searching every inch of these cliff houses since you arrived
+here, but without success. And allow me to inform you, sir, that you
+might hunt until the day of doom without the slightest chance of finding
+that paper. It will never be yours!"
+
+"Oh! I am not worrying in the least, Professor," Eugene remarked,
+coolly. "You will see a great light presently, I imagine."
+
+"I have already done so, sir," came the snappy reply. "I am awakening to
+the fact that too long have I been neglecting my daughter; and that
+since this investment of mine has turned out so happily, it must become
+her property."
+
+"Very nice and thoughtful of you, Professor," sneered Eugene; "and while
+I dislike to spoil such delightful plans, I fear I must do so. It is my
+nature to persist in anything I undertake. And I have made up my mind to
+possess that document; or make you pay dearly for my disappointment."
+
+"Now you begin to descend to low threats, sir," cried the scientist, who
+did not seem to be a particle afraid; which proved the truth of the old
+saying that courage does not necessarily need a big tenement.
+
+"We have hunted high and low through this series of ratholes, and
+without any success," observed Eugene, beginning to bite off his words,
+as though unable to much longer keep up the pretense of being calm.
+"What have you done with that old Moqui who came up here ahead of us?"
+
+"Ah! you saw him enter the hidden stairway, then, and that was how you
+learned the way to reach these cliff dwellings?" exclaimed the other, as
+though one thing that had bothered him was now explained.
+
+"Yes, that was how it came about," answered Eugene. "We have followed
+him like his own shadow for days, and yet he knew it not. Age must have
+dimmed the sight and hearing of the warrior. After we saw him pass
+upward, on investigating, we found the stone ladder in the crevice, and
+we waited several hours for him to come down, for we wanted to make sure
+of him first. As he did not appear, we finally could stand it no longer,
+and began to creep up here, inches at a time. Then we surprised you, and
+announced our intention of stopping with you."
+
+"Yes," declared the scientist, bitterly. "First you pretended that you
+were sent out by a magazine to search for me, and get some points as to
+my great work here among the Zunis, the Hopis and the Moquis. But I soon
+discovered that you had another motive in trying to find Professor
+Oswald. You began to hint about your desire to possess stock in certain
+mines, and especially in one, the ownership of which I had carried in my
+hand for some years. Besides, I had been warned of your real intentions,
+and was on my guard."
+
+"What became of that old Moqui Indian?" went on Eugene. "He climbed up,
+but he did not come down. We guarded that stairway closely every minute
+of the time. We have searched every room in this rabbit burrow that we
+could discover; but still he does not show up. Have you put him away in
+some place, the entrance to which is hidden from our eyes?"
+
+The only reply to this question was a scornful laugh. As Bob would say,
+it was as if the defiant little professor had flashed out.
+
+"Don't you wish you knew?"
+
+"Well, as the document and the Moqui have both vanished mysteriously,
+there's only one thing I can conclude," went on Eugene, between his
+teeth; "and that is they must be together at this very moment. Produce
+the one, and the other will be found not far away."
+
+"What a wise man you are, sir!" remarked the little scientist, with a
+sneer.
+
+"Perhaps I may prove a more successful one than you imagine," returned
+Eugene, between furious puffs. "Now, all the time I have been turning
+this old lot of rabbit burrows upside down I've been thinking a whole
+lot, Professor."
+
+"Bravo!" exclaimed the other clapping his hands vigorously; "it will
+certainly do you a great amount of good, sir, for I imagine you seldom
+treat yourself to such a luxury as a good hard think. And may I inquire
+concerning the result of your labors in that line?"
+
+"First of all, I sized you up as a mighty stubborn little bit of
+humanity."
+
+"Oh! thank you, sir. Really, I am disposed to accept that as a
+compliment; for you see, a man of my profession could never succeed
+unless he had mastered his inclination for an easy life, and had become
+a stoic. And what else did you happen to decide after this wonderful fit
+of thinking, may I ask, sir?"
+
+"This: I made up my mind that once you declined to produce that
+document, to secure which I have come a great distance, and undergone
+considerable fatigue, that no threat of bodily harm would induce you to
+alter your decision!"
+
+"It is really very interesting to hear you say this, sir," remarked the
+one who had lived in that lofty cave for many months, poring over the
+queer things that he unearthed from time to time in the ruins of the
+cliff dwellers' homes. "And after reaching such a conclusion as that,
+how comes it you persisted in trying to carry out your original
+intention?"
+
+"Because I had another arrow in my quiver, Professor!" remarked Eugene,
+in a penetrating voice, that had a ring of anticipated triumph in it.
+
+"H'm! torture, perhaps?" suggested the other; "but my dear sir, nothing
+of that nature could make me open my lips. I would die rather than
+submit to your proposals."
+
+"But wait a bit, my old friend," chuckled Eugene; "there are two kinds
+of torture, that of the body, and of the mind!"
+
+"I suppose you are right, sir," the little scientist remarked; "but
+honestly, now, I fail to understand the drift of your remarks."
+
+"Then it shall be my pleasure to enlighten you, Professor," Eugene
+continued. "Pay attention to me now, and you will quickly have the
+cataract removed from your eyes. Is there anything in the world that you
+value above that document which you know by this time has suddenly
+increased in value many times over?"
+
+"I can think of but one thing--my daughter Janice!" replied the other,
+quickly. "And she is far beyond your reach in the East."
+
+"Ah yes, quite true, Professor," the schemer went on; "more's the pity.
+But I think you make a mistake when you say that your daughter is the
+only thing on earth you value above the million that has suddenly
+dropped at your feet. How about this, Professor?"
+
+He evidently held something up, for the other immediately uttered a
+startled cry.
+
+"The manuscript of my forthcoming book on the mysteries of the cliff
+dwellers of the Grand Canyon! The hard work of three long years of
+exile! A labor of love that I expected will place my name among the
+front ranks of scientists!"
+
+"Exactly!" sneered Eugene. "Just keep back, Professor, please. My men
+are not in any too pleasant a mood, and I would not answer for what they
+might do to you if you made the first effort to snatch this thing from
+my hands. Sit down again, and let us reason together."
+
+"You wretch! Now I begin to see your game. You would threaten to destroy
+all my precious work of years, in order to obtain a miserable paper."
+
+At that Eugene laughed loudly.
+
+"It may be all you say, Professor," he remarked; "but it represents a
+snug little fortune that I'd like to possess. The future would be mighty
+pleasant, once I made that fine hit. And if it appears like so much
+trash in your eyes, my dear man, there should no longer be any
+hesitation about giving it up to me. Think of the work you have done. It
+couldn't be replaced, Professor, I imagine? If now I should deliberately
+take a match out of my pocket like this, strike the same, and apply the
+busy little flame to these papers, the history of the Zunis, the Hopis,
+the Moquis, and their ancestors the cliff dwellers, would be forever
+lost to the world, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Stop, you wretch!" cried the excited hermit, who was apparently
+greatly alarmed at seeing his precious manuscript in peril.
+
+"Ah! do you then consent to open your mouth, and tell what I want to
+know?" demanded his tormentor.
+
+"Is there no other way out?" asked the prisoner of the cave, hopelessly.
+
+"None," replied Eugene, harshly. "My men are watching for the Moqui to
+show up every second, and with orders to shoot him on sight. So don't
+indulge in any hope that he can save you. There, the match has burned
+itself out; but remember, Professor, there are others, plenty of them,
+where that came from. I will give you one minute to produce that paper."
+
+The scientist uttered a sigh that was plainly heard.
+
+"I suppose I must yield to fate then," he said, dismally. "But you
+promise to return my papers to me after I have complied with your
+outrageous demands?"
+
+"To be sure I will, and only too gladly," replied the other, eagerly. "I
+don't want to make the terms too hard on you, old man. Only you must
+choose now between losing either the fortune, or your work of years. And
+perhaps we'd find the document after all, too. Speak up; where is it?"
+
+"Examine that rock stool on which you are seated, and you will find
+that it can be moved," the voice of the hermit went on, steadily.
+"There, now that you have over-turned the seat, you discover something
+in the cavity. Keep your word, and place in my hands my precious packet
+of manuscript. Threats of taking my life might not move me; but when you
+place in peril that on which my reputation as a scientist must be based,
+it is too much. Thank you, sir; I see you are a man of your word. And I
+will sign the papers just as you may wish to have done."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+TURNING THE TABLES--CONCLUSION
+
+
+"Come on in, boys!"
+
+Old Hank Coombs had stood all the while this intensely interesting
+dialogue was going on, as though glued to the spot. Indeed, not one of
+the party in the adjoining apartment of the cliff dwellers' cave but who
+had kept drinking in the conversation as though it fairly fascinated
+them.
+
+But when the old cow puncher realized that to all appearances the
+outrageous scheme of Eugene had worked only too well, and that the
+precious document was even then in the hands of the smooth-tongued
+plotter, he suddenly awoke to the fact that perhaps they had waited a
+little too long.
+
+Through the opening that served as a doorway between the apartments he
+jumped, followed immediately by Chesty, the two sheriffs, and finally
+the saddle boys, with Charley Moi bringing up the rear.
+
+Of course their unexpected coming created quite a breeze among those
+whom they thus surprised. The little man who wore the goggles seemed
+delighted, and immediately started to place himself, and his precious
+manuscript, in a position where he might be covered by these welcome
+allies.
+
+Spanish Joe and Abajo had started to draw their weapons; but when they
+discovered that they had already been covered, and recognized several
+among the newcomers as old companions on Circle Ranch, they promptly
+elevated their hands.
+
+Eugene looked just as ugly as he felt. The prize had apparently been
+about to fall into his hands, like a ripe apple, when this change of
+front had to occur.
+
+He kept his wits about him, however, and like the shrewd fox that he
+was, played the game to the limit for his own safety.
+
+"Keep your friends back, Professor Oswald!" he shouted, as he managed to
+interpose what looked like a stone table between himself and the two
+sheriffs, who had their hungry eyes on him. "See here, unless you
+promise on your word of honor not to proceed against me for this little
+game that didn't work, I'll tear this paper that's worth a million into
+little bits, no matter what happens to me afterwards! Do you hear,
+Professor?"
+
+Frank caught his breath. After all the hard work which he and Bob had
+put in to save that precious document for Janice, was it to be lost?
+
+He wanted to fly at the man, and snatch it from his hands; but did not
+dare; for only too well did he know that at the first hostile move
+Eugene would proceed to put his threat into execution.
+
+To his intense surprise the little man with the big glasses seemed to be
+shaking as with a convulsion of laughter. It did not seem as though he
+worried about the fate of the document Eugene held so rigidly, while
+awaiting an answer to his demand.
+
+"Do just as you please about that, my friend," chuckled the scientist.
+"If it would afford you any enjoyment to destroy the paper you are
+holding, I wouldn't cheat you out of it for the world."
+
+"But--" stammered the defeated plotter, "it would render void all your
+right to taking possession of the San Bernardino mine, if this document
+were destroyed!"
+
+"Oh! dear no, not at all," exclaimed the other, cheerily. "The fact is,
+that paper is even now on the way to the nearest post office, addressed
+to my friend and relative, Colonel Haywood, and is to go by registered
+mail."
+
+"That Moqui Indian--" gasped Eugene, falling back helplessly.
+
+"Exactly, he carries the packet, with orders to let nothing divert him
+from his one purpose," observed the scientist; while Bob nudged his
+chum in the side, unable to restrain his delight over the wonderful
+outcome of the knotty problem.
+
+"How did he get out of here?" asked Eugene. "We watched the stone
+stairway every minute of the time, and he didn't go down that way."
+
+"Oh! well, in my prowling around here, month after month," explained the
+hermit, "I managed to find a way the old cliff dwellers had for reaching
+the summit of the rocks, in case of necessity. The Moqui possessed the
+nerve required to crawl along the face of the cliff on a narrow ledge,
+and make the exit. He is miles away by now, and my daughter's
+inheritance is safe!"
+
+"But--this paper here," asked Eugene, faintly; yet with curiosity
+governing his actions; "it seems to be a legal document, transferring a
+majority of the shares of the San Bernardino mine over to you if the
+further conditions are fulfilled within a certain time?"
+
+"To be sure," laughed the other, "that was the first copy, you might
+say. There was some little defect about it, which we discovered after it
+was signed; so a second copy was made. If you had examined that one
+closer you would have found that the stamp necessary to make it legal
+was lacking. Somehow I happened to keep both copies, never dreaming how
+valuable this bogus one might prove."
+
+Eugene threw the paper angrily to the floor.
+
+"I'm done!" he cried, shaking his head. "Come on, Mr. Stanwix, if you
+are after me, and put the irons on; though I don't think you've got any
+show of convicting me of any unlawful game. I claim to have come here to
+interview this famous old gentleman about the wonderful discoveries he
+has made connected with these people of the cliffs. I expected to make a
+big sum in selling the article to a magazine. Perhaps you might give me
+more or less trouble if you cared; but then it's another thing to show
+proof. And the professor wouldn't like to stay out here long months,
+waiting for the case to come on."
+
+"That's where you're right, my tall friend," chirped the little
+scientist; "and as my work is almost finished I do not mean to let
+anything detain me from getting my book in the hands of the printers."
+
+"Hear that, Mr. Stanwix; he says we're going to get off easy, and you
+might as well wish us good day right now?" exclaimed Eugene, nodding to
+the Yavapai sheriff, whom he appeared to know.
+
+"Well, there's no hurry," remarked that official, pleasantly. "On the
+whole, my opinion is that it would be good policy to keep you locked up
+until we know that the document has reached the hands of the one to whom
+it was sent, and who is, I believe, the father of our friend, Frank,
+here."
+
+"I agree with you, Mr. Sheriff!" declared the old hermit of the cave.
+"Because if he were set free I fear he would chase after the United
+States mail, if a single hope remained of stealing my property. Yes,
+kindly keep him by you until I come around with news."
+
+Then he turned to the two cow punchers, who had stood moodily by,
+listening to all that was being said.
+
+"I have no use for either of you men," he remarked, shaking a finger at
+them; "so the sooner you get down out of this place, the better. And
+while I continue to remain here a few days, I'm going to ask these brave
+lads to keep me company as a guard of honor. I've many things to show
+that may interest them. And I want to accompany Frank to his home a
+little later, if possible."
+
+And so it was arranged. Old Hank and Chesty declared that their orders
+had been to stay as long as Frank and Bob did; so they also took up
+their quarters in the apartments that went to make up what the little
+old gentleman had called Echo Cave.
+
+The two sheriffs took their prisoner away, to place him in some secure
+nook while they continued their search for the pair of scoundrels whom
+they had hunted so long, and were determined to get this time.
+
+As they will not be seen again in this story it may only be right to say
+that Frank afterwards read an account in a paper of how the sheriffs
+finally rounded up the Arizona Kid and Big Bill Guffey, arresting them
+after a warm resistance in which all of the participants were wounded.
+And in due time doubtless the bad men who had so long defied the law,
+paid the penalty for their various crimes.
+
+The saddle boys certainly did enjoy the few days they spent with the
+queer little hermit, while he completed his odd business in the rock
+dwellings of the ancient cliff men.
+
+They found the echo which had caused him to give the place its name, and
+spent many an hour amusing themselves with its astonishing power to send
+back sounds.
+
+Finally Havasupai made his appearance, bearing with him a receipt, which
+proved that the precious packet had been sent by registered mail to
+Circle Ranch.
+
+And then the professor announced himself as ready to take his departure
+from the scene of his two years' labors as a hermit, working in the
+interests of science.
+
+"It's a wonderful old place," Bob declared as they took their last look
+at the Grand Canyon from the bluff in front of the hotel, ere mounting
+their horses and starting back home across the many miles that lay to
+the south and east before Circle Ranch might be reached.
+
+"Yes, and we'll never forget what we've seen here," added Frank.
+
+"Not to speak of the adventures that have come our way," remarked Bob.
+"Tell you the truth, Frank, I'll be mighty sorry when our trip is over,
+because I reckon it'll be a long time before we have another chance for
+such a great gallop."
+
+But although of course he did not know it just then, Bob was very much
+mistaken when he made this prophecy. It happened that events were
+shaping themselves at that very hour in a way calculated to call upon
+the saddle boys to make another venture into the realms of chance, and
+mounted upon their prized horses too. What these events were, and how
+well Frank and Bob acquitted themselves when brought face to face with
+new adventures, will be found set forth in the next volume of this
+series, under the title of, "The Saddle Boys on the Plains; Or, After a
+Treasure of Gold."
+
+Old Hank and Chesty accompanied Professor Oswald by way of the railroad
+to a point nearest the ranch, where a vehicle would be awaiting them. He
+had been greatly interested in hearing how one of the bottles that he
+had thrown into the swift current of the Colorado had been eventually
+picked up in far distant Mohave City; and thus his note came into the
+hands of his relatives.
+
+Of course Frank and his chum enjoyed the return gallop even more than
+when on the way to the Grand Canyon. They no longer had anything
+weighing on their minds, since the plans of Eugene Warringford had been
+broken up. And besides, the recollection of the astounding wonders they
+had gazed upon in that great canyon were bound to haunt them forever.
+
+The little professor was waiting to see them at the ranch, before
+starting East to join his daughter, and get his wonderful book under
+way.
+
+"I owe you boys more than I can tell," he declared, when he was saying
+good-bye; "and you needn't be at all surprised if a nice little bunch of
+gold mine stock comes this way for each of you, just as soon as my deal
+goes through, which will be in one more week."
+
+He was as good as his word, and when the mine came under his authority
+he did send both Frank and Bob some stock, on which they could collect
+dividends four times a year.
+
+Frank looked in vain for the coming of the old Moqui. Charley Moi did
+indeed turn up a little later, anxious to again meet the boys whom he
+had served in the Grand Canyon. But Havasupai came not to Circle Ranch;
+and remembering how he had apparently been fleeing from the wrath of his
+people at the time they first met him, Frank and Bob could not but
+wonder whether the old warrior had gone back to his native village only
+to meet his fate at the hands of his people, according to Moqui law.
+
+Here we may leave our two young friends, the saddle boys, for a short
+time, enjoying a well earned rest. But the lure of the great outdoors
+was so strongly rooted in their natures that it may be readily
+understood they could not remain inactive long; but would soon be
+galloping over the wide reaches, following the cowboys as they rounded
+up the herds, branded mavericks and young cattle, and picked out those
+intended for shipment to the great marts at Kansas City.
+
+But while new scenes would likely interest Frank and Bob from time to
+time, they could never forget the magnificent views that had been
+stamped upon their memories forever while in the Grand Canyon of the
+mighty Colorado.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+     *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+
+THE BOYS' OUTING LIBRARY
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full color. Price, per volume, 65
+cents, postpaid._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS SERIES
+
+BY CAPT. JAMES CARSON
+
+  The Saddle Boys of the Rockies
+  The Saddle Boys in the Grand Canyon
+  The Saddle Boys on the Plains
+  The Saddle Boys at Circle Ranch
+  The Saddle Boys on Mexican Trails
+
+
+THE DAVE DASHAWAY SERIES
+
+BY ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+  Dave Dashaway the Young Aviator
+  Dave Dashaway and His Hydroplane
+  Dave Dashaway and His Giant Airship
+  Dave Dashaway Around the World
+  Dave Dashaway: Air Champion
+
+
+THE SPEEDWELL BOYS SERIES
+
+BY ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+  The Speedwell Boys on Motorcycles
+  The Speedwell Boys and Their Racing Auto
+  The Speedwell Boys and Their Power Launch
+  The Speedwell Boys in a Submarine
+  The Speedwell Boys and Their Ice Racer
+
+
+THE TOM FAIRFIELD SERIES
+
+By ALLEN CHAPMAN
+
+  Tom Fairfield's School Days
+  Tom Fairfield at Sea
+  Tom Fairfield in Camp
+  Tom Fairfield's Pluck and Luck
+  Tom Fairfield's Hunting Trip
+
+
+THE FRED FENTON ATHLETIC SERIES
+
+By ALLEN CHAPMAN
+
+  Fred Fenton the Pitcher
+  Fred Fenton in the Line
+  Fred Fenton on the Crew
+  Fred Fenton on the Track
+  Fred Fenton: Marathon Runner
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
+
+
+
+
+THE JEWEL SERIES
+
+BY AMES THOMPSON
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in colors_
+
+Price per volume, 65 cents
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_A series of stories brimming with hardy adventure, vivid and accurate
+in detail, and with a good foundation of probability. They take the
+reader realistically to the scene of action. Besides being lively and
+full of real situations, they are written in a straightforward way very
+attractive to boy readers._
+
+1. THE ADVENTURE BOYS AND THE VALLEY OF DIAMONDS
+
+Malcolm Edwards and his son Ralph are adventurers with ample means for
+following up their interest in jewel clues. In this book they form a
+party of five, including Jimmy Stone and Bret Hartson, boys of Ralph's
+age, and a shrewd level-headed sailor named Stanley Greene. They find a
+valley of diamonds in the heart of Africa.
+
+2. THE ADVENTURE BOYS AND THE RIVER OF EMERALDS
+
+The five adventurers, staying at a hotel in San Francisco, find that
+Pedro the elevator man has an interesting story of a hidden "river of
+emeralds" in Peru, to tell. With him as guide, they set out to find it,
+escape various traps set for them by jealous Peruvians, and are much
+amused by Pedro all through the experience.
+
+3. THE ADVENTURE BOYS AND THE LAGOON OF PEARLS
+
+This time the group starts out on a cruise simply for pleasure, but
+their adventuresome spirits lead them into the thick of things on a
+South Sea cannibal island.
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS New York
+
+
+
+
+THE BOMBA BOOKS
+
+BY ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With colored jacket_
+
+Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Bomba lived far back in the jungles of the Amazon with a half-demented
+naturalist who told the lad nothing of his past. The jungle boy was a
+lover of birds, and hunted animals with a bow and arrow and his trusty
+machete. He had a primitive education in some things, and his daring
+adventures will be followed with breathless interest by thousands._
+
+1. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY _or The Old Naturalist's Secret_
+
+In the depth of the jungle Bomba lives a life replete with thrilling
+situations. Once he saves the lives of two American rubber hunters who
+ask him who he is, and how he had come into the jungle. He sets off to
+solve the mystery of his identity.
+
+2. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE MOVING MOUNTAIN _or The Mystery of the
+Caves of Fire_
+
+Bomba travels through the jungle, encountering wild beasts and hostile
+natives. At last he trails the old man of the burning mountain to his
+cave and learns more concerning himself.
+
+3. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE GIANT CATARACT _or Chief Nascanora and
+His Captives_
+
+From the Moving Mountain Bomba travels to the Giant Cataract, still
+searching out his parentage. Among the Pilati Indians he finds some
+white captives, and an aged opera singer who is the first to give Bomba
+real news of his forebears.
+
+4. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON JAGUAR ISLAND _or Adrift on the River of
+Mystery_
+
+Jaguar Island was a spot as dangerous as it was mysterious and Bomba was
+warned to keep away. But the plucky boy sallied forth and met adventures
+galore.
+
+5. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE ABANDONED CITY _or A Treasure Ten
+Thousand Years Old_
+
+Years ago this great city had sunk out of sight beneath the trees of the
+jungle. A wily half-breed and his tribe thought to carry away its
+treasure of gold and precious stones. Bomba follows.
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
+
+
+
+
+SEA STORIES FOR BOYS
+
+BY JOHN GABRIEL ROWE
+
+_Large 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Colored jacket_
+
+Price per volume, $1.00 Net
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Every boy who knows the lure of exploring, and who loves to rig up huts
+and caves and tree-houses to fortify himself against imaginary enemies
+will enjoy these books, for they give a vivid chronicle of the doings
+and inventions of a group of boys who are shipwrecked, and have to make
+themselves snug and safe in tropical islands where the dangers are too
+real for play._
+
+1. CRUSOE ISLAND
+
+Dick, Alf and Fred find themselves stranded on an unknown island with
+the old seaman Josh. Their ship destroyed by fire, their friends lost,
+they have to make shift for themselves for a whole exciting year before
+being rescued.
+
+2. THE ISLAND TREASURE
+
+With much ingenuity these boys fit themselves into the wild life of the
+island they are cast upon in storm. They build various kinds of
+strongholds and spend most of their time outwitting their enemies.
+
+3. THE MYSTERY OF THE DERELICT
+
+Their ship and companions perished in tempest at sea, the boys are
+adrift in a small open boat when they spy a ship. Such a strange
+vessel!--no hand guiding it, no soul on board,--a derelict. It carries a
+gruesome mystery, as the boys soon discover, and it leads them into a
+series of strange experiences.
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS New York
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY RANCHERS SERIES
+
+BY WILLARD F. BAKER
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_
+
+Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Stories of the great west, with cattle ranches as a setting, related in
+such a style as to captivate the hearts of all boys._
+
+1. THE BOY RANCHERS _or Solving the Mystery at Diamond X_
+
+Two eastern boys visit their cousin. They become involved in an exciting
+mystery.
+
+2. THE BOY RANCHERS IN CAMP _or The Water Fight at Diamond X_
+
+Returning for a visit, the two eastern lads learn, with delight, that
+they are to become boy ranchers.
+
+3. THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL _or The Diamond X After Cattle
+Rustlers_
+
+Our boy heroes take the trail after Del Pinzo and his outlaws.
+
+4. THE BOY RANCHERS AMONG THE INDIANS _or Trailing the Yaquis_
+
+Rosemary and Floyd are captured by the Yaqui Indians but the boy
+ranchers trailed them into the mountains and effected the rescue.
+
+5. THE BOY RANCHERS AT SPUR CREEK _or Fighting the Sheep Herders_
+
+Dangerous struggle against desperadoes for land rights brings out heroic
+adventures.
+
+6. THE BOY RANCHERS IN THE DESERT _or Diamond X and the Lost Mine_
+
+One night a strange old miner almost dead from hunger and hardship
+arrived at the bunk house. The boys cared for him and he told them of
+the lost desert mine.
+
+7. THE BOY RANCHERS ON ROARING RIVER _or Diamond X and the Chinese
+Smugglers_
+
+The boy ranchers help capture Delton's gang who were engaged in
+smuggling Chinese across the border.
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
+
+
+
+
+THE WEBSTER SERIES
+
+By FRANK V. WEBSTER
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Mr. WEBSTER'S style is very much like that of the boys' favorite author,
+the late lamented Horatio Alger, Jr., but his tales are thoroughly
+up-to-date.
+
+Cloth. 12mo. Over 200 pages each. Illustrated. Stamped in various
+colors.
+
+Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+  Only A Farm Boy _or Dan Hardy's Rise in Life_
+  The Boy From The Ranch _or Roy Bradner's City Experiences_
+  The Young Treasure Hunter _or Fred Stanley's Trip to Alaska_
+  The Boy Pilot of the Lakes _or Nat Morton's Perils_
+  Tom The Telephone Boy _or The Mystery of a Message_
+  Bob The Castaway _or The Wreck of the Eagle_
+  The Newsboy Partners _or Who Was Dick Box_?
+  Two Boy Gold Miners _or Lost in the Mountains_
+  The Young Firemen of Lakeville _or Herbert Dare's Pluck_
+  The Boys of Bellwood School _or Frank Jordan's Triumph_
+  Jack the Runaway _or On the Road with a Circus_
+  Bob Chester's Grit _or From Ranch to Riches_
+  Airship Andy _or The Luck of a Brave Boy_
+  High School Rivals _or Fred Markham's Struggles_
+  Darry The Life Saver _or The Heroes of the Coast_
+  Dick The Bank Boy _or A Missing Fortune_
+  Ben Hardy's Flying Machine _or Making a Record for Himself_
+  Harry Watson's High School Days _or The Rivals of Rivertown_
+  Comrades of the Saddle _or The Young Rough Riders of the Plains_
+  Tom Taylor at West Point _or The Old Army Officer's Secret_
+  The Boy Scouts of Lennox _or Hiking Over Big Bear Mountain_
+  The Boys of the Wireless _or a Stirring Rescue from the Deep_
+  Cowboy Dave _or The Round-up at Rolling River_
+  Jack of the Pony Express _or The Young Rider of the Mountain Trail_
+  The Boys of the Battleship _or For the Honor of Uncle Sam_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+The Boy Hunters Series
+
+By Captain Ralph Bonehill
+
+12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOUR BOY HUNTERS _Or, The Outing of the Gun Club_
+
+A fine, breezy story of the woods and waters, of adventures in search of
+game, and of great times around the campfire, told in Captain Bonehill's
+best style. In the book are given full directions for camping out.
+
+GUNS AND SNOWSHOES _Or, The Winter Outing of the Young Hunters_
+
+In this volume the young hunters leave home for a winter outing on the
+shores of a small lake. They hunt and trap to their hearts' content, and
+have adventures in plenty, all calculated to make boys "sit up and take
+notice." A good healthy book; one with the odor of the pine forests and
+the glare of the welcome campfire in every chapter.
+
+YOUNG HUNTERS OF THE LAKE _Or, Out with Rod and Gun_
+
+Another tale of woods and waters, with some strong hunting scenes and a
+good deal of mystery. The three volumes make a splendid outdoor series.
+
+OUT WITH GUN AND CAMERA _Or, The Boy Hunters in the Mountains_
+
+Takes up the new fad of photographing wild animals as well as shooting
+them. An escaped circus chimpanzee and an escaped lion add to the
+interest of the narrative.
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTOR BOYS SERIES
+
+BY CLARENCE YOUNG
+
+_12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  THE MOTOR BOYS _or Chums Through Thick and Thin_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS OVERLAND _or A Long Trip for Fun and Fortune_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS IN MEXICO _or The Secret of the Buried City_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS _or The Hermit of Lost Lake_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT _or The Cruise of the Dartaway_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC _or The Mystery of the Lighthouse_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS _or Lost in a Floating Forest_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE PACIFIC _or The Young Derelict Hunters_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE CLOUDS _or A Trip for Fame and Fortune_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE ROCKIES _or A Mystery of the Air_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE OCEAN _or A Marvelous Rescue in Mid-Air_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE WING _or Seeking the Airship Treasure_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS AFTER A FORTUNE _or The Hut on Snake Island_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE BORDER _or Sixty Nuggets of Gold_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS UNDER THE SEA _or From Airship to Submarine_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ON ROAD AND RIVER _or Racing to Save a Life_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS AT BOXWOOD HALL _or Ned, Bob and Jerry as Freshmen_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ON A RANCH _or Ned, Bob and Jerry Among the Cowboys_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE ARMY _or Ned, Bob and Jerry as Volunteers_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE FIRING LINE _or Ned, Bob and Jerry Fighting for
+    Uncle Sam_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS BOUND FOR HOME _or Ned, Bob and Jerry on the Wrecked
+    Troopship_
+  THE MOTOR BOYS ON THUNDER MOUNTAIN _or The Treasure Box of Blue Rock_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY. Publishers New York
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SADDLE BOYS IN THE GRAND
+CANYON***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 21841.txt or 21841.zip *******
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