Across the moonlit range the riders galloped. Men and boys leaned forward in their saddles. On each face was a look of grim determination. CHAPTER XVIII THE MAN WITH THE SCAR High above the riders, the full moon shone, a white orb set in the velvet blackness of the sky, lighting the scene with a silvery radiance. Soon the buildings of the X Bar X were left behind and the horsemen raced swiftly over the open range. Bug Eye was in the lead, and he made straight for the spot where he had been held up. Teddy and Roy were riding side by side, a short distance behind their father. “If we’re able to trail the thieves, we may find out something about our horses!” Teddy yelled to his brother. “Hope so,” Roy returned. “It’ll be a good night’s work if we do.” On and on they rode. There was little time for conversation, as the ponies were flashing along at their best speed. They came to an up grade, at the top of which was Sanborn’s Point. As they neared their destination, Mr. Manley called to Teddy: “You an’ Roy stick close to Bug Eye. I’m going to come in from the left, and see if I can spot the rustlers.” Teddy nodded and spurred his mount onward. Shouting to Nick and Pop to follow him, Mr. Manley wheeled about in a semicircle. The rest followed Bug Eye. “Almost there!” Bug Eye yelled to Roy. “Where’s yore dad goin’?” “He’s circling around to the left, so he can cut in! There’s a trail that leads to Hawley--guess you know the one I mean--and dad’s figuring on cutting the thieves off, if they went that way!” “Good idee!” With a final dash, Bug Eye’s party reached Sanborn’s Point. Bug Eye held up his hand, and all pulled the horses back. “Right here is where she happened,” the puncher said. “I was coming up the hill, and when I got here they jumped me. Then they went over this rise in the flivver, an’ I lost sight of ’em. See! There’s the tracks of the wheels! Boy, I’m sure thankful there’s a moon! Now we can foller them tracks, an’ we may run into the galoots after all!” As Bug Eye had said, the imprints of the tires led over the hill. Slowly the punchers followed them, and when the rise was topped Teddy gave a yell. “The tracks go left from here! Just the way dad went! Come on--let’s go!” Leaving the road, the men followed the tire trail off to the left. In the soft soil this was not a hard thing to do, and they could ride faster now and still keep the tracks in sight. “If we ever catch up to them waddies, they’ll wish they’d never seen that tin mule!” Bug Eye vowed. “Makin’ me walk all them miles! What’d they want with a Lizzie, anyhow? Did they think I was carryin’ dust or somethin’? By golly, I bet they took the car out of plain cussedness! They don’t want that flivver any more than the man in the moon!” “Seems like you’re right, there,” Roy agreed. “But you never can tell. We’ve got a little account to settle with scar-face, and the sooner we square it the better.”