"Uncle Dunston! Ben!" cried Dave at the top of his lungs, and at the same time whipped the handkerchief from his face. "Here are Ward Porton and his father! We must capture them!" "Hurry up! Don't let them get away!" put in Roger, as he, too, uncovered his face. As he uttered the words Roger drew his pistol, an action which was quickly followed by our hero, for both understood that the criminals before them might prove desperate. Of course Dunston Porton and Ben Basswood, as well as Frank Andrews, were greatly astonished by the calls from Dave and Roger. But our hero's uncle, while out hunting in various parts of the world, had been in many a tight corner, and thus learned the value of acting quickly. He had with him his pistol, and almost instantly he drew this weapon and came forward on the run, with Ben and Frank Andrews at his heels. "Stop! Stop! Don't shoot!" yelled Ward Porton in alarm, as he found himself and his companions surrounded by five others, three with drawn pistols. "We won't shoot, Porton, if you'll surrender," answered Dave. "Oh, Dave! has he got those miniatures?" burst out Ben. "He sure has, Ben!" "Good!" "I haven't got any miniatures," growled the former moving-picture actor. His father and Brown looked decidedly uncomfortable. Once the former army officer made a motion as if to draw his own weapon, but Dunston Porter detected the movement and instantly ordered all of the party to throw up their hands. "Oh, Dave! are you sure he has those pictures?" queried Ben, and his face showed his anxiety. "I think so, Ben. However, we'll find out as soon as we have made them prisoners." "That's the talk!" put in Roger. He turned to Dave's uncle. "Can't you bind them or something, so that they can't get away?" "We'll disarm them," announced Frank Andrews. "Jarvey and Brown are wanted for that raid on old man Tolman's ranch and for using that bomb on the bridge. We can prove through Pankhurst that they were with the party." "That man is Ward Porton's father," explained Dave to his uncle and Ben, while the evil-doers were being searched and disarmed one after another. "Ward Porton's father, eh? Well, they seem to be two of a kind," answered Ben. With their weapons taken from them, the prisoners could do nothing but submit. They were questioned, but all refused to tell anything about what they had done or intended to do. "You'll never get anything out of me, and you'll never get those miniatures back," growled Ward Porton, as he gazed sourly at Ben and at Dave. "We'll see about that, Porton," answered our hero. And then he requested his uncle and Frank Andrews to keep an eye on the prisoners while he, Roger and Ben set out for the knoll some distance away from the creek. "Ward Porton said he had hidden some cases in a _cache_ between some rocks on that knoll," explained our hero. "By cases I think he meant those containing the miniatures."