“The whole four are here,” came, a minute later, from Pepper. “But where are the men and the horses?” The wagons stood among the trees and bushes. The eight horses that had been hitched to them were missing, and so were the four drivers. The cadets looked around, but the spot appeared to be deserted. “Well, we’ve found the wagons anyway,” said Jack. “That’s something.” “But how are we to get them to Hayville without teams?” asked Stuffer. “I don’t know. Maybe we can borrow horses nearby, although I don’t see any farmhouse.” “Say, can’t I get something to eat?” went on Stuffer pleadingly. “I am hollow down to my shoes!” “Go ahead—if you can find anything,” answered the young major, and the cadet who loved to eat lost no time in locating what he wanted on one of the wagons. The boys walked into the woods a distance, but saw nothing of the horses. Then they came back to the wagons. “Two of us had better stand guard with our guns while two go back and tell Captain Putnam,” said Jack. “I’ll detail you, Pepper and Stuffer, to stay here.” “All right,” answered Pepper. “But don’t stay away too long, for it is getting late.” “We’ll be back as soon as possible. And you, Stuffer, don’t eat too much or you’ll get sick,” added the young major. “I never get sick from eating,” answered Stuffer, calmly munching on a biscuit, his sixth. Jack and Andy hurried through the woods, taking a short cut in the direction of Hayville. They had covered less than a quarter of a mile when to their surprise they came to a tumbled-down cottage with a big barn attached. “What an out-of-the-way place for a building!” cried Andy. “I guess it was built before the trees grew up,” answered his chum. “Maybe—Wait, get down out of sight!” Jack dropped behind some bushes and the acrobatic youth followed his example. The young major had seen two boys coming from the old cottage. They were headed for the dilapidated barn. “Roy Bock and Bat Sedley!” murmured Andy. “Jack, I reckon we are on the right track!” “That’s what we are!” “More than likely they have the horses here.” “I think so myself.” “But what became of the drivers of the wagons?” “That remains to be found out.” “You don’t suppose those fellows would make them prisoners, do you? They’d think they were going to be robbed and would put up a fight.” “Oh, I reckon the Bock gang played some sort of trick on them. Maybe they got ’em to go into a roadhouse for refreshments and then drove off with the wagons on the sly.” “What shall we do?” “I don’t know yet—it depends upon how many of the crowd are here.” Still keeping out of sight behind the bushes, Jack and Andy watched the two Pornell students closely. They saw the pair enter the barn. Then they came out again and went back to the old cottage. “Come on—I think they are alone,” said the young major. “And if they are——” “We’ll get the best of ’em somehow,” finished his chum.