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198 introduced Bob, and sincere were their expressions of delight both at meeting him and in knowing that he was to come into his own. Ford, however, swore them to silence, for there were some of the townsfolk who had supported Dardus in his lawsuit, and neither the ranchman nor Bob wished a word of his presence to leak out till they had perfected their plans for bringing the dishonest guardian to book.

"But your boys know it, John, and so do the prisoners," asserted one of these friends.

"My boys won't talk about it," declared the ranchman. "I'll see to that. If the prisoners do, you all can say the story is absurd, probably another of their plots to steal another ranch."

This decided, the grizzled plainsman summoned his cowboys, explained the situation briefly, and offered them a year's wages for their silence, which they promised when Bob added his entreaties.

But to prevent any possible miscarriage of their plans, Bob wrote his discoveries to Mr. Nichols, mailing the letter before he left Red Top. These details attended to, Ford borrowed a horse for Bob, and they set out for the home ranch, which they reached in due course.

Leaving Merry Dick on Bob's station, Ford and Bob rode on to Fairfax, where they held a long consultation with the station agent, at which it was decided that Bob and the ranchman should