"I guess it is or I'd have been dead long ago eating your dab," flung back Stacy.
They had to wait quite a time for the coffee, but at last the call to dinner was sounded in the usual way, the long-drawn cry of, "Come and get it!"
They had just sat down when they were startled by a voice calling from somewhere off in the bushes to the northward of them.
"Hoo-ee!"
The boys started up, thinking that perhaps some of the Rangers had returned. Instead of the Rangers a stranger rode in on a wiry little pony. He doffed his sombrero gracefully and sat regarding them smilingly.
"Howdy, pardners," greeted the newcomer. "Got a smack for a hungry man?"
"Certainly, certainly. Come right over, my friend," answered the professor cordially.
Ned stepped forward politely to take the stranger's horse.
"Never mind, lad. I'll look after the cayuse. He isn't over-fond of strangers. You're all strangers down here, eh?"
"Yes, yes. We are," admitted the professor. "You are just in time.
We are ready for dinner and there's plenty to go round."