“Now you take that puncher in the checkered shirt,” Roy went on, talking more to himself than to Teddy. “He’s a queer proposition. When dad was knocking politeness into that barkeeper to keep him from doing any plugging, old Checkered Shirt could have had things to his own liking. Instead, he runs. Afraid, most likely.” Roy bent lower in the saddle to avoid a tree branch which overhung the trail. “Pop said he was a friend of Gilly Froud’s.” “I don’t care if he’s a friend of Black Mike, the Killer!” Teddy burst out. “If he flicks a cigarette in my face again I’ll salivate him!” Roy looked quickly at his brother. He knew the strain the younger boy had been under, and felt that the best thing to do was to take his mind off Flash and Checkered Shirt. “Say, Teddy,” he said in a loud voice, “what do you think of those two girls dad met on the train?” Teddy glanced over and grinned. “Think I need a little cheering up, Roy?” he asked. “Well, maybe I do. Now what was that you wanted to know?” “Say-y-y-y, you can’t get away with that!” Roy laughed. “You heard me all right!” “Oh, yes--the girls! Why, I think they’re very nice.” “‘Very nice!’” Roy mimicked. “You don’t say! My boy,” and his voice took on a paternal note, “I admire your restraint. But then, of course, you know more girls than I do. To me--to me, they were as the breath of springtime!” “Aw, dry up!” Teddy exclaimed sheepishly. “Stop that kidding! You liked ’em as well as I did. Jimminy, I’m thirsty!” “Seems to me that spring is around here some place,” Roy declared, pulling his horse up suddenly. “Let’s separate, and see if we can find it,” suggested Teddy. “I’ll go down the mountain a way, and you go up. If you find it, yell, and I’ll do the same if I locate it. If we miss it, we can meet here in ten minutes.” Roy nodded his approval of the plan. He turned his steed to the right, and started up the incline at an angle. Teddy watched him for a moment, and then, licking his dry lips, faced in the opposite direction. Chirping to his pony, he took a firm grip on the reins and started the descent. Riding down an incline is never as easy as riding up. Teddy realized this, and he guided the pony slowly down Mica Mountain. As he rode, he turned his head from side to side, seeking for the spring. The boy was getting more thirsty every moment. He came to a spot which seemed more treacherous than the rest. The footing was of loose stone and very steep. Teddy seriously debated whether it would not be better to dismount and lead the pony. Fate, in the guise of a hornet, decided the problem for him. As the hornet thrust his poisoned lance into the pony’s flank, the horse gave a snort of pain and leaped forward. Teddy made a grab for the saddle horn, missed, and went flying through the air. He landed face downward on a bed of knife-like stones, and, as the horse regained his balance and trotted off, Teddy, with a wild yell, went sliding down the mountainside! CHAPTER IX