"I want no pay for helping you. I will enjoy the bit of detective work, as one might call it. But how am I to get to the railroad station without a horse?"
"You can take both horses, if necessary," suggested Chet.
"That's so; although we ought to have at least one animal on the ranch," added Paul.
"We can both ride one animal as far as Dottery's ranch," said Allen, "and there we can either borrow or hire another animal."
"How far is Dottery's?"
"Only about twenty-five miles. We ought to reach it by dark, if we start shortly."
"We can start at once, as far as I am concerned," laughed Noel.
So it was decided to lose no time, and Chet at once set to work to prepare dinner and also some food to be carried along.