Paul turned his eyes on Frank, who, he realized, must solve the problem. CHAPTER XVII WHEN ZEKE CAME BACK "The window at the rear!" Frank Allen instantly suggested. "I get you, Frank!" gasped the relieved Paul. "Great stuff!" was the energetic way Lanky agreed with the leader. The sound of many hoofbeats was coming closer, steadily, and what the boys meant to do must be undertaken without wasting any more precious seconds. "Follow me!" With the words the agile and energetic Lanky was already half-way through the window. This had no sash, time having relieved it of both glass and frames, leaving only an aperture in the wall. Frank pushed Paul forward, signifying that it was his intention to be the last to quit the place, just as all captains of sinking vessels at sea make sure everybody else has left before they will consent to step into the last crowded boat that leaves before the foundering occurs. Once outside, the boys were quick to scurry in among some old junk and scrambled rocks. This lay but a few feet away from the back of the tavern, and offered excellent hiding places for them. Besides, what pleased Lanky considerably, they could doubtless overhear any talk that came about. Yes, and even catch fleeting glimpses of the new-comers, if so be they entered the old hotel. Another minute--less than that, even--and the boys were able to congratulate themselves over their smartness in leaving in such a hurry. The ponies came to a halt directly before the door of the former hostelry. Throwing the lines over the heads of their mounts, cowboy fashion, so that the animals would remain at a stand under all ordinary conditions, the riders entered. Frank and his chums could hear loud and rough voices. "That was Nash Yesson who spoke then!" whispered Lanky in Paul's ear, for they were all bunched close together on purpose, and had their ears doing almost double duty in the endeavor to learn all they could. "It was Lef Seller he called down, too," observed Frank, with great caution, for it would invite a ruction little short of a calamity if those angry men discovered the boys crouching there and listening to what went on. "I just glimpsed Lef," Lanky communicated in his softest tone; "and you ought to see how bad he looks. He's had nothing but hard knocks ever since he ran up against that Yesson. The tough boys over at Double Z Ranch must have rubbed it in hard, too." "He's only getting what he deserves," Paul muttered, half to himself, thinking of the base duplicity and deceit toward his own father Lef had been guilty of. "'Sh! Let's listen for all we're worth, and perhaps we'll pick up some news," suggested Frank, who disapproved of all this whispering that was taking place. He himself had taken several cautious looks, and had learned that besides Lef Seller and Nash Yesson there were four other persons in the crowd that had entered the forsaken tavern.