For a short space in front of them the trail lay open. Teddy shouted something unintelligible, and Roy whipped his head around. Teddy was motioning furiously, and, as Roy followed his brother’s gesture, he saw General and his rider, who were in the rear of the other two rustlers, leap off the trail and through the brush. “Mark that spot!” Teddy panted. “We turn there!” Roy sought to fasten his gaze on the place at the side of the path. That bush,--that brown bush--he must keep his eyes on it! If they lost it, Star would be lost too! It is not easy to rivet one’s attention on a spot on the road while guiding one’s pony up a tortuous mountain trail. Roy’s mount, free of the hand which seemed to lift him over those leg-wrenching holes, faltered, stumbled, and, like a deer stricken with a hunter’s bullet, crashed headlong to the ground. Automatically, Roy’s whole body relaxed as he flew through the air, so that the shock would be distributed equally throughout his frame. When he hit, his breath was jarred from him, but no bones were broken. Teddy almost pulled his pony over backward in his effort to stop. He leaped swiftly from his horse and ran to his brother’s side. “Roy! Roy!” he cried. “Are you hurt? Are you all right? Roy!” “All right, Teddy,” Roy gasped weakly, struggling to his feet. “Just a--a--fall. Wind’s gone.” He bent over for a moment, gasping for breath. When he straightened up, the lines of pain had disappeared from his face. “Pretty lucky! Where’s that bronc? If his leg’s broken--” Then he saw his pony standing in the underbrush, unhurt, but trembling violently. Quickly he ran toward the steed and patted him gently. “Snap into it, Teddy! We won’t give up yet! There’s still a chance! We’ve got to find Star and Flash! And if we can bring back General for dad--” Without finishing his sentence, Roy vaulted into the saddle, and once more the boys galloped up the mountain trail. Roy’s fall was but an incident in the chase. When they came to the spot where they thought the thieves had turned off, Roy pulled his horse to a halt. “Think this is it?” he asked Teddy. “I think so,” answered his brother. “We’ll take it--have to! Come on!” As Teddy headed his horse off the trail and into the bush, he had a queer feeling that this was all a vivid dream--that he and Roy had been riding like this forever, on and on, mile after mile, over mountains and through valleys. Chasing--what was it they were chasing? Oh, yes! Flash! And Star and General! Why, of course. What was the matter with him? He shook his head savagely. Was he a tenderfoot that a ride like this should do him up? Why, he--around that fallen tree, you bronc you! Not over it! Suddenly swift realization came to Teddy. No wonder he felt weak! Here it was late afternoon, and he had not had anything to eat since breakfast! “Feel all right, Roy?” he yelled, turning in his saddle. “Yes--pretty good! Kind of hungry!” “Me, too!”