their berths to secure what sleep was possible.

Frank had them up in good time, and long before dawn they were fully
dressed, awaiting the arrival of the train at the valley station with
impatience.

"Another hour now, and then I shall know," Bluff was saying to himself.

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Jerry, who happened to overhear him. "And
for the peace of the party, I do hope the first thing you see when you
open your bag will be that awful sword."

"We're stopping, fellows!" cried Will, trembling with eagerness.

Five minutes later they jumped down from the train.

"Hello, boys! Glad to see you! Better late than never!" said a hearty
voice, and then they found themselves shaking hands with a big man,
whose gray-bearded face seemed to be a picture of good nature.

Of course, this was Mr. Mabie, the ranchman. He saw to it that their big
trunk was dropped off the baggage car, to be seized by a couple of
cowboys and hustled on to the back of a long buckboard wagon, drawn by a
couple of skittish horses.

Then they were off, not five minutes after the train had pulled out.

"Here, Reddy," said Mr. Mabie to the young driver, "let me make you
acquainted with some good fellows about your own age," and he introduced
them one after another.