"I am with you," added Tom. "But we must be cautious after this, or the Baxters will be firing at us from an ambush." "If only we could catch sight of them," put in Sam. "They ought to be shot on sight!" The boys looked at Jack Wumble, who had remained silent. "Do you advise us to go back?" asked Dick hastily. "I can't say as I do, lads," was the slow response. "Yet it might be better to do that nor to be shot down and have yer body thrown into a canyon," added Wumble, speaking in his old time vernacular. "Perhaps your father would rather have ye back." "I don't believe it," burst out Tom. "Father never wanted cowards for sons." Dick caught the paper, tore it down and ripped it in two, throwing it to the wind. "I say I'm going ahead." "So am I," came from both of his brothers. "But you need not go Jack." went on Dick. "We don't wish you to run into danger, and--" "Hold up, Dick, I said I would see ye through, and I will," cried the old miner. "But I want ye to realize what ye are doing, that's all. If you are shot down it will be yer own fault, so to speak." "But we don't intend to be shot down," interrupted Tom. "We have run up against the Baxters before, so we know how to be careful." "It aint like as if they were in a city in the East," went on the old miner. "Here some men are mighty free with their shootin'-irons. And they could take a shot at ye from a long distance, with a good rifle." Thus talking the entire party walked back to their camp and sat down to discuss the situation in detail. "Perhaps we had better not advance until dark," said Dick. "If we advance now we will simply be making targets of ourselves," and he shivered in spite of himself. "We won't advance at all," put in Jack Wumble briefly. "We would be wuss nor fools if we did--with them human wildcats a--watchin' of us," and he began to puff vigorously at his short stump of a briarroot pipe. "But you said--" began Tom, when the old miner waved him to silence. "Let me think it out, lads, and then I'll tell ye my plan. We'll trick 'em--that's best," and he began to smoke again. Satisfied that Jack Wumble knew the ground to be covered better than they did, the boys decided to let him have his own way, so long as the object of the expedition should be advanced. They sat down in the shade to rest, and thus several hours passed, and the old miner smoked up half 'a dozen pipefuls of his favorite plug mixture. "I've got it," he cried at last. "If we kin work the deal we'll keep 'em guessing." And he laughed softly to himself. His plan was a simple one. Several miles back on the trail there was a fork, the second trail running to the northward. His plan was to ride back to the fork, and then in the darkness of the night to take to the second trail.