"All right, go ahead and we'll follow," laughed Tad.
"I'll ride up to the top of that knoll and make an observation."
Tom Parry smiled appreciatively as the lad galloped up the sharp rise of ground, where Chunky sat on his pony, shading his eyes as he gazed off over the cheerless desert.
"Well, how about that shade?" shouted Ned.
Stacy turned disconsolately and rode back to his companions.
"There isn't any," he said.
"Of course not," laughed Ned.
"But I know how to make some," added the fat boy.
Slipping from his pony he cut some sage brush, which he fashioned about his head in the shape of a hood, so that it gave his perspiring face some protection from the intense glare of the sun.
"Now, all you need is a strip of mosquito netting," suggested Walter.