"What does that mean?" asked Bess quickly.

"Why, he brought with him a lot of plunder, they say," Rhoda
explained, "and he could not carry it back."

"Then your folks got the plunder?" inquired Nan.

"Not exactly! Lobarto hid it. But our boys got back the horses. And
they killed several of Lobarto's gang."

"Mercy! Just listen to her!" cried Laura excitedly. "Why! I was
just making believe about your coming from the wild and woolly
West; and you really do!"

"Not very woolly around Rose Ranch," said Rhoda grimly. "Father
does not approve of sheep. The nesters make us trouble enough,
without having sheepmen."

"What are 'nesters'?" asked Amelia.

"I guess you'd call 'em 'squatters' farther East. We don't like
them on the ranges. They are small farmers who come and take up
quarter sections of the open lands and fence them in."

"But is there really a treasure buried on Rose Ranch?" asked Nan,
much more interested in this than she wished the others to observe.

"Why, I suppose so. They all say so. Lobarto and his gang were run
off so quick that he had to cache almost everything but the hard
cash he had with him. He had raided two churches in Mexico and