“From one artist to another—greetings,” he snickered.
Pop returned the bow. Then, reaching for his back pocket, he drew out a thin volume. Silently he held it up, so that Roy and Teddy could read the name on it.
“Found it in Nick’s foot-locker,” he said simply. “Makes right interestin’ readin’.”
Teddy and Roy bent forward. Then, as they read the title, a roar of laughter burst from each. Long and loudly they laughed, for on the cover of the book were the words:
“A Hundred Ways to Amuse Your Friends.”
CHAPTER XII
The Girls Are Gone
On Friday, the day that Teddy and Roy were to ride to the 8 X 8 for Belle and bring her home, a squadron of black, low-hung clouds marched over the mountains and began to discharge their ammunition of rain toward a thirsty earth. They were seemingly well stocked, for they held their position for three days, until, on the morning of the fourth, the sun dispersed them.
During the storm, the business of the ranch had practically come to a standstill, for there was little that could be done in wet weather. Besides that, the time before a fall round-up is always slack, the punchers spending most of their days repairing their outfits and doing odd jobs about the yard and the corral.
Nick Looker wasted many hours in deep thought over the trick Pop had played on him. Of course he found that his book had been taken from his foot-locker, but even then he remained somewhat in the dark. He simply could not fathom how Pop had turned the joke so cleverly. He took Roy and Teddy into his confidence, and they listened with grave faces to his tale of woe.