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156 they spied me comin' down, an' by the grasshoppers o' Kansas! ye ought ter hev seed 'em put an' scoot. They got out o' sight in a jiffy, an' I couldn't locate 'em, try my best. I hung around an hour, an' then I made up my mind ter ride over an' tell ye wot I hed heard."

Not only Allen, but also Noel Urner and Daddy Wampole were astonished by the revelation Ike Watson made.

"Uncle Barnaby trapped into leaving San Francisco!" gasped Allen. "Did they say where they had taken him?"

"Didn't say nuthin' more 'n I told ye," responded the hunter from Gold Fork. "Leas'wise, didn't say nuthin' ez I could hear."

"Who were the men?"

"I don't know, 'ceptin' I seed 'em hangin around Jordan Creek about six months ago. Like ez not they belong to the old Sol Davids gang. Nearly every one up thet water course belonged to thet gang."

"Would you know them if you saw them again?"

"Sartinly—I'm powerful good at recerlectin' faces onct I see 'em."

"Where do you suppose the men went to?"