As Tom started off, instead of following the road he took a course across the prairie that would bring him to the creek some distance from the regular ford, thus, instinctively, as it were, following out an old frontier scouting rule by which we were taught that in travelling a probably dangerous road one should avoid the regular crossing of a timbered creek as a precaution against being ambushed. About the middle of the forenoon Tom made his appearance and soon joined us. In response to our eager inquiries for news he replied: "Good news. Our strategy won the game. The whole gang, lock, stock, an' barrel, lit out from their ol' camp last night about midnight, an' went in a hurry, too. Judging by the signs an' what a man told us who heard 'em gittin' away across the prairie, they must have been scared. Now, let's hitch up an' strike the road again an' try to make up some of the time we've lost here--for we've been knocked out of nearly a day's drive by these jayhawkers. I'll tell you all about it as we go along." We soon had our team strung out and were again rolling along the old Santa Fé road, Jack and I on the wagon seat, with Tom riding the black horse alongside and giving us the particulars of his visit to the store. "When I got to the store," he said, "early as it was, I found a farmer there who lives down near where the jayhawkers have been camped an' who had come up to report that some time before midnight he had heard considerable commotion in their camp, an' shortly afterward heard a wagon an' some mounted men pass not far from his house, goin' southward across the prairie. He supposed that the gang was breaking camp an' moving away, but couldn't understand why they should light out so sudden an' at such an hour. When daylight come he visited the abandoned camp an' there saw plenty of signs that they'd gone in a hurry. They left clothin', lariats, an' other camp equipage scattered about that they had failed to gather up in the dark. "Well, when I got to the store the farmer an' the storekeeper was all worked up an' tickled at the going of their unwelcome neighbors; an' their astonishment was greater still to see me ridin' Tucker's fine black horse an' saddle, which they all seemed to recognize at first sight. "To explain the situation to 'em, an' how I come to be ridin' Tucker's horse, I had to tell 'em all about the jayhawkers comin' to our camp to try to bluff us out of our mules, an' how we stood 'em off; an' about Jack capturin' the big duffer; an' how we made a 'spread eagle' of him an' give him a good scaring up with that yarn of the company of cavalry coming; an' how we give him a chance to get away; an' how he got. "I told the storekeeper what Jack's plan was, in case an owner for the black horse should turn up; but he don't think the horse b'longs to any one in this part of the country; an' ef anybody comes 'round inquiring for such a horse he's to write to me at Fort Larned.