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60 the men. "We paid you for what you've done for us, and we will pay you still better for simply coming to our camp and staying there a prisoner, until we use that rig of yours for a few hours."

"If you wanted to borrow the rig, why didn't you do so in a decent fashion?" demanded Joe indignantly.

"You keep quiet, now," advised the man who carried on the conversation. "We know our business. Here, Slump, you and Mort help get this wheel on the wagon and hitch up the horse."

They forced Joe into the wagon bottom and proceeded to get ready for a drive into the woods.

"Bet Joe is wondering how we came to get out of that wagon," observed Zeph to Ralph.

"Don't talk," said Ralph. "Now, when they start away, I will follow, you remain here."

"Right here?"

"Yes, so that I may find you when I come back, and so that you can follow the wagon when it comes out of the woods again if I am not on hand."

"You think they are going to move some of their plunder in the wagon?"

"Exactly," replied the young fireman.

"Well, so do I. They won't get far with it, though, if I am after them," boasted Zeph. "Wish I had a detective, star and some weapons."