“He won’t get away,” Roy asserted. “We’ll telephone in to the sheriff at Hawley to be on the watch, in case he went that way. Then maybe we can reach Nick’s friend at Eagles--the puncher he talked to from the Whirlpool River Ranch. If he’s a friend of Nick’s, he’ll help us out. Then, when dad comes back, we can start on the hunt.” “Yea, but when’ll that be?” Teddy half grumbled. “A week, maybe. By that time The Pup could be half way across the continent. Oh, I know it’s the only thing to do,” he added quickly, as he saw Roy stare at him. “But--oh, well, I guess you know how I feel!” “It wasn’t your fault at all, Teddy,” Mrs. Manley consoled. “How could you know that Marino was here to steal?” “Aw, I might have guessed he’d try some stunt like that,” the boy muttered. “After he--I mean when I saw him sneakin’ around. Well, we live and learn. Anything else missing, Mother?” “I don’t believe so, and I certainly hope not,” Mrs. Manley answered. “A horse and four hundred dollars are quite enough. Do you think--oh, I can’t think--Gus--” “Not any!” Teddy exploded forcibly. “And that reminds me, Roy! That conversation you heard behind the bunk-house! Marino was trying to get Gus to go into this scheme with him and split the money. That’s it, as sure as shooting! Nope, Mom, Gus had no finger in this! It was Marino, all alone. I’ll lay anything on that.” “You’re probably right, Teddy,” Roy agreed, his face clearing. “At least it’s an explanation of what I heard. Of course we can’t be sure of that, though it sounds likely. The Pup may have had another idea, and just formed the plan to rob our place on the spur of the moment when he heard dad was away. Come on, let’s take a look at the desk. That may tell us something.” When they reached Mr. Manley’s office they saw in a moment that the drawer of the desk had been pryed open with some sort of knife, and the lock sprung. There were marks--small cuts--about the woodwork on the edge of the desk. As Roy saw these, he looked at Teddy significantly, but said nothing. He did not want his mother to know of the knife episode. A raised window on the side indicated how the intruder had gained entrance. Such was the faith that Mr. Manley had in his men that he never bothered to lock up at night, and this was the first time in all the years he had been the owner of the X Bar X that his trust had been violated. Perhaps it was carrying things to extremes to allow a large sum of money to remain unprotected, but “the boss” was ever an unreliable business man. It was this very quality which so endeared him to his family and to his associates--the quality of his lovable childishness. Yet there were those who could tell of another nature which lay buried beneath this exterior--a nature which men of evil character had learned to fear. When aroused, the boss of the X Bar X was a “fightin’ fool,” as Pop expressed it.