"I'm glad of it," called Tad, "for—-"
"What's that? Who are you?" interrupted the lieutenant. Then he pulled his horse up sharply. "Well, I'll be jiggered, if it isn't you."
"That's who it is," laughed Tad. "Are you hit?"
"I stopped a couple, but it doesn't amount to anything. Just flesh wounds, that's all. And you boys put the bandits on the run, eh?" wondered the Ranger lieutenant. "That's another one I owe you. That's another one the Cap'n owes you too."
"Don't mention it."
"How did they happen to discover you?" asked the professor riding up beside the Ranger.
"That's what gets me. I don't understand it at all. They must have caught sight of me as I was riding out. They surely didn't know I had Dunk with me or they wouldn't have begun shooting at me. They'd have tried to pot the pony in the legs and get me afterwards, though I might have stood them off till daylight."
"Bad, very bad!" muttered the professor.
"I call it very good, sir. Those fellows have had a fright that will keep them going for some hours yet. They think it is the Rangers that's chasing them and they'll be hiking for cover at the rate of some miles an hour."
"You are sure you are not badly hurt?" asked the professor anxiously.