"I promised him to," rejoined Mr. Harkness. "His visit may be the means of saving me thousands of dollars. But now I am in a serious predicament. Most of my punchers are off on the Bone Mound Range, rounding up mavericks. Jennings will have quite a force, and how are we to oppose him?" "We'll help you," spoke up Harry boldly. "Who?" "Why, the Boy Scouts. Except Merritt and Tubby, we can all rope, and not one of us is scared of a little shooting, or anything like that." "Well, I don't like the idea of taking you boys into danger." "I guess you'll have to take them," put in Blinky soberly. "Why?" "Well, there's only myself and three other punchers, and we'll need at least a dozen to take care of the raid. Let the kids help. They'll do all right. I watched 'em carefully while we were trailing poor Rob, and they're made of the right stuff." So it was arranged that the boys were to take part in protecting the Far Pasture against Clark Jennings and his marauders. There was now little doubt in the minds of Mr. Harkness and the others that the stampede had been instigated by Clark and his friends, disguised as Moquis. In fact, we know from the conversation we overheard in the mountains that such was the case. "Where has Black Cloud gone, to join the snake dance?" asked Merritt, when this had been settled. "No; at least, he has gone there, but with the object of preventing it, if possible. In some way he has learned that Mayberry has sent for soldiers, and that he means to surprise the tribe at the height of their revelry. Black Cloud, for this reason, is determined to stop it if he can." "Can he, do you think?" asked Harry. "I don't know. He told me that Diamond Snake, in order to make himself more popular with the tribe, was a red-hot advocate of giving the dance with all its trimmings." "I'd like to see it," said Merritt suddenly. "See them eating rattlers, eh?" put in Blinky. "Do they eat them?" asked Tubby, interested at once at the mention of his favorite topic. "Eat 'em alive," was the startling reply; "that is, except the ones they throw into a red-hot pit of coals." "Did you ever see a snake dance?" asked Merritt eagerly. "No, but I heard my grandpop talk about 'em. He's one of the few white men that ever saw one and got out alive." "What do you mean?" "That by Moqui law if a white man is caught looking on at their fal-de-lals and fandangos, he is tortured to death." "Hum! I guess I don't want to see one as badly as I thought I did," muttered Tubby. At this instant there came a sharp ring at the telephone. Mr. Harkness hastened to the instrument and took up the receiver. His face paled, and then broke into a joyous smile as he heard the voice at the other end. "News of Rob!" he shouted, wheeling about. Instantly they pressed forward about him, eager to hear.