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!" burst from Allen's lips.

"What's to do now?" asked Noel Urner.

Ike Watson halted in perplexity for fully a minute. Then he dismounted and waded into the stream, which was scarcely a foot to a foot and a half in depth.

"Ho! ho! ho!" he laughed, suddenly. "I thought so! No, ye can't play thet game hyer."

"What now, Ike?" questioned the young ranchman.

"They went up in the middle o' this yere stream, thinkin' they could throw me off the trail. See, hyer are the marks ez plain ez the nose on Cap'n Grady's face." And the old hunter pointed into the clear water.

Leaving Allen to bring his horse, Watson walked slowly along the bed of the stream, taking good care not to step into any deep holes. In this manner half a mile was covered, (162)