“You mean the cattle thieves?” asked the professor.
“Well, thieves, rustlers—you can call ’em whatever you like,” laughed Jerry. “But never mind talking now. We are delighted to see you!”
“No more than I am to see you.”
“We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” added Ned. “We’d about given up. How’d you make your escape?”
“I hardly know. They kept me pretty closely guarded, for they took me for a spy, I guess. But finally they weren’t so careful, and after I had let pass several chances to leave their camp, they began to think I was content to stay there.
“I would have been, too, for there were a lot of the rarest bugs I ever saw. But I wanted to get back to my friends, and so I hid away one night and in the morning began a long tramp to find your ranch. But I can’t tell it all to you now.”
“Of course not!” cried Jerry. “We’re crazy to stand here making you talk when you’re starving.”
“I’ll get him something to eat!” volunteered Bob, hurrying toward the anchored airship.
“Yes, and I’d like to get rid of some of these whiskers and wash myself with soap,” said the professor, who was the most cleanly man imaginable. “I did manage to scrub with a little sand and water, but it wasn’t soap,” he cried.