Ned felt that the chances were anything he said in trying to show the man what an offense he had been guilty of in betraying his employer would be wasted; but he could not resist the temptation to tell him something about scout law, and how boys are being taught in these days to be faithful to their trust above all things. What he took it upon himself to say, in the most pleasant way he could, may have glanced off the other's thick hide, just as water does from a duck's back. Still, there could be no telling; and at some future time possibly some of the plain truths spoken by the scout master on that occasion were liable to rise up in the mind of Ally Sloper to haunt him. He did not make any reply when Ned finished, only to scowl and remark: "S'posen I c'n trot along now, without anybody borin' me in the back?" "As if a scout would ever be guilty of shooting anybody in the back!" Jimmy indignantly burst out with. "Yes, go about your business, Sloper," Ned told him, "and if I was you I'd have as little to do with the boys as possible the balance of the day. They're talking some about you, and it might be your wisest policy not to wander away to any lonely place, because I wouldn't put it past them to take things into their hands before the Colonel comes back." The look that appeared on the puncher's face was as black as a thundercloud. Instinctively he clapped his hand at his side and then gritted his teeth when it only came in contact with an empty holster. A cowboy without his ready gun is somewhat of a helpless individual, from the fact that he has come to depend wholly on it in times of trouble. "If I was heeled I wouldn't ask favors o' any man," he grumbled, "and as it is I reckons I'll have to cave and fight shy of the crowd. The lot's set agin me anyhow, and I'll have to change my berth, no matter what the Kunnel says." With that he turned on his heel and strode away. Jimmy looked after him, and then drew a long breath. "Huh! talk to me about nerve," he exploded, "that dub has got them all beat half a mile, and then some. But say, d'ye really think he'll hang around till the Colonel comes home?" "Chances are he'll beat it before the afternoon gets old," Jack asserted. "Ought we to let him sneak away, Ned?" asked Harry. "Why not lock him up somehow, and keep him from skipping out?" "Well, in the first place, it isn't our business to play keeper to Sloper," the scout master replied. "There are plenty of fellows here to attend to his case and I feel that I've done my whole duty when I warned him not to try and leave the ranch until your uncle gets home, Harry. If Chunky and Skinny and the rest think his room would be better than his company or take a notion to give him a warm coat of tar and feathers, it's none of our affair."