"Missing, is he? Then it wasn't a ghost. La-la-dum! What a joke. Will you go along, too?" "Of course." "And take a pistol?" "Yes." "Poor mon, Oi thrust he is not very much hurted," broke in Rosy Delaney, who had been a close listener to the foregoing. "If he is, Dick Arbuckle, bring him here, an' it's Rosy Delaney will nurse him wid th' best of care." As has been said, many had heard Pumpkin Bill's wild cries, but now that he had quieted down these boomers returned to their couches, grumbling that the half-witted lad should thus be allowed to disturb their rest. In a minute Dick Arbuckle and Pumpkin were hurrying along the road the dunce had previously traveled. The rain was letting up a bit, and the smoky lantern lit up the surroundings for a circle thirty feet in diameter. "Here is where I met him," said Pumpkin, coming to a halt near the edge of a small stream. "There's the hat he knocked off my head." He picked it up. "Oh, dear me! covered with blood! Did you ever see the like?" Dick was more disturbed than ever. "Which way did he go?" "I don't know." "Didn't you notice at all, Pumpkin? Try to think." "Nary a notice. I ran, that's all. It looked like a bloody ghost. I'll dream about it, I know I will." To this Dick did not answer. Getting down on his knees in the wet he examined the trail by the lantern's rays. The footsteps which he thought must be those of his father led around a bend in the stream and up a series of rocks covered with moss and dirt. With his heart thumping violently under his jacket he followed the footprints until the very summit of the rocks was gained. Then he let out a groan of anguish. And not without cause. Beyond the summit was a dark opening fifteen feet wide, a hundred or more feet long and of unfathomable depth. The footprints ended at the very edge of this yawning abyss. CHAPTER II. DICK ON A RUNAWAY. "If he fell down here he is dead beyond all doubt!" Such were Dick Arbuckle's words as he tried in vain to pierce the gloom of the abyss by flashing around the smoky lantern. "Gosh! I reckon you're right," answered Pumpkin in an awe-struck whisper. "It must be a thousand feet to the bottom of that hole!" "If I had a rope I might lower myself," went on the youth, with quiet determination. "But without a rope----" A pounding of hoof-strokes on the grassy trail below the rocks caused him to stop and listen attentively. "Somebody is coming. I'll see if I can get help!" he cried, and ran down to the trail, swinging his lantern over his head as he went. In ten seconds a horseman burst into view, riding a beautiful racing steed. The newcomer was a well-known leader of the land boomers, who rejoiced in the name of Pawnee Brown. "Ai! Pawnee Brown!" cried Dick, and at once the leader of the land boomers came to a halt. "What is it, Arbuckle?" he asked kindly. "My father is missing, and I have every reason to fear that he has tumbled into an opening at the summit of yonder rocks."