"
"You are very good, and I shall never forget what you have done for me
already."
"That's all right. It's my duty as an officer of the United States in
this Territory of Arizona to do it. Never fear; there will be more to
this than the beginning, and a race is not won until it is ended."
All night one or the other of the boys patrolled the grounds, hiding in
the shrubbery, ready to give the alarm should any of Mowbray's party
return to attack the house and capture the treasure.
But dawn broke without an alarm, and the boys were astir, making ready
for the abandonment of the house and the return to the Bubbly Well
Ranch.
Ted was feeling so much better after a good night's rest that he was
able to climb into his saddle and go into the town.
His object was to get a wagon and a span of mules in which to transport
the remains of Helen Mowbray and the valuables she had left behind to
her brother's house.
At a livery stable he met the proprietor, a garrulous old man, whom,
when he had explained his mission, looked at him strangely before
speaking.
"What's doin' at the Mowbray house?" he asked. "We all uptown was some
curious last evenin' when we heard so much shootin'."
"Nothing much," said Ted. "Just a little pistol practice."
The old man grinned.
"Yuh musta kep' ther targets warm some from ther way ther poppin'
sounded up yere," he said dryly.
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