But it was done in black, and the letters were daubed on in a careless way, such as a shipping house clerk does it. Young Wild West's face lighted up with a smile as he read the following: "Cap Roche," "General Store," "Silver Bend, Nev." "What do you think of that?" he asked, holding the barrel-head so his companions could read it. "I reckon we know where the material to make the sign came from now." "Great gimlets!" exclaimed Cheyenne Charlie. "If you hadn't seen Roche go inter ther cave last night you would know now that he was connected with ther outlaws. This is what I calls great!" "Well, I'll just put the sign up again," said our hero, after a moment of thought. "But I'll put it so the back part can be read. It may make Cap Roche wonder a little, and if anybody else, not connected with his gang, sees it they may do a little studying and wondering." He soon knocked the nails out, and then he lost no time in nailing the sign to the tree in the manner he had proposed to do. "There you are!" he said. "You can't see the words as plainly as you could the others; but I reckon they can be read all right, if one takes the trouble to get up a little close to the tree." "I reckon if any one comes this way they'll notice it quick enough," the scout declared. As they intended to go no further, they simply took a look at the trail that came around the mountain at that point and then continued on toward the southwest. "There's the way to Silver Bend," said Wild. "I reckon we'll go through there when we get done with Forbidden Pass." "That's right, Wild," Arietta spoke up. "We will need something from the general store that can't be bought in Big Bonanza." They all laughed at this, and then, mounting their horses, turned and rode back into the narrow pass. The mile to the spot where the secret entrance to the cave had been discovered by our hero the night before was soon made, and then they came to a halt. Wild was just going to dismount to make an examination when a revolver shot sounded and his hat was knocked off his head. The next instant fully a dozen came down the rocky side of the pass and confronted them with drawn revolvers. "Hands up--everybody!" called out one of them, who was easily recognized as Chuck Snivel, the cowboy. Crack--crack! Charlie fired two shots in quick succession, and then urged the girls to flee. Wild saw that nearly all the men were pointing their weapons at him, so he thought it best to obey the command. He seemed to be the one they wanted, and he felt that one hostile word from him would insure his death. Two of the outlaws had dropped when the scout fired, but the others were so close upon them that Wild was seized and pulled from his horse in less than a second, almost. The young deadshot struck at them with his clenched fists and made it decidedly unpleasant for them. But he knew he could not get away, and he was simply doing this to give his companions a chance.