"Pedro!" Holt gasped and staggered a little dizzily to his feet. "He struck me down from behind, and tied and gagged me, as you found me. Where is Pedro?" and he looked excitedly and a bit wildly around. "Ah, now I remember," and his face cleared. "He has gone for the rest of the gang. I overheard him and another man, after I had recovered my senses and lay tightly bound up in the blanket, planning how he would go and get the rest of the gang, while the other man climbed the tree and kept guard over the narrow opening. Their plan was to capture the camp and hold the Big Tree, so that none of you could get out of Crooked Arm Gulch, and then starve you into surrendering everything; and they came mighty nigh doing it," and he glanced anxiously down the canyon. "They'll be due in about half an hour, I judge from what I overheard. They were not calculating on any of you getting back so soon," and he smiled grimly. "But that other man? Where is that other man?" and Mr. Conroyal--by this time all, even Mrs. Dickson, had made their way down the Big Tree--looked anxiously around. Rex started and glanced quickly toward the wall of the canyon, directly under the opening to Crooked Arm Gulch; and then his face cleared. "I reckon that's him," and he pointed to a huddled heap that lay on the rocks. "I knocked him off the limb of the Big Tree. But, we had better make sure he is where he can do no harm," and he hurried to the body. "Dead as a stone. Neck broken," he declared, as he turned the corpse over. "Broken-nose! It's Broken-nose!" and Thure, who had hurried up with Rex, started back, as the man's face came into view. "Wal, th' world's better off by havin' one less scoundrel in it," and Ham scowled down on the face of Bill Ugger, ugly and repulsive even in death. "Now," and he turned quickly to Holt, "didn't you say that thar Mexican skunk, Pedro, had gone tew git th' rest of th' gang?" "Yes," answered Holt; "and we must be ready for them, when they get here. They are camped down near the Devil's Slide; and I calculate it will take them about half an hour yet to get here." "An' the skunks are a-calculatin' on findin' th' camp unguarded?" and Ham's eyes began to twinkle brightly. "Yes, I heard Pedro tell the other fellow that he felt quite sure none of us would be back for two hours or more; but, to make things safe, Brokennose, as Thure calls him, said he'd climb the tree and knock the head off anyone that tried to come through the narrow opening into Crooked Arm Gulch. I reckon Rex got there just at the right moment to spoil that little game." "I certainly did," and Rex smiled grimly. "A minute later, and he would have got me, instead of my getting him. But, we must be getting ready for the return of Pedro," and his eyes glanced anxiously down the canyon.