"Let us be in no hurry to return," rejoined Paul. "We'll give Rush a chance to get back his wind."
Leaving the trusty animal to roam about as pleased him, the two boys threw themselves on the grass and gave themselves up to their reflections.
"I'll tell you what I would like to do," remarked Chet. "I would like to find the chap who cleaned us out of that seven hundred dollars."
"I wonder that Allen didn't get Watson to stop the horse thieves and search them," mused Paul. "He must have known they had the money."
"He was too played out to think of much just then, I reckon. It was a good deal to escape with the horses without getting shot."
"The cross we found in the barn belonged to that Saul Mangle beyond a doubt. The initials prove that."
"I believe you."
"We must watch out for that Mangle, and if we can ever get our hands on him, make him give up our money and then have him locked up."
"It is not so easy to lock up a man when you are miles and miles away from a jail."
An hour went by, and the boys thought it time to start on the return. Rush was called back from a thicket into which he had wandered and both mounted, for the trail now lead almost entirely down hill.