The noise of a heavy body forcing its way through the underbrush sounded more clearly, and Fred sprang to his feet, hatchet in hand, ready to defend himself to the utmost.
Gus looked triumphant, and again shouted loudly; but the expression of his eye was changed to despair as the stranger burst through the foliage.
"Why Joe! Joe!" Fred cried, as he leaped forward and caught Brace by the hands. "How did you happen to get here just when you were most needed?"
"I reckon I'd gone right past without knowin' you was anywhere near, if it hadn't been for your wild yells."
"It was Gus who did that," Fred replied, glancing with a smile toward the discomfited prisoner. "He thought as I did, that it was Tim."
"Do you mean his partner?"
"Yes."
"Have you got the best of both?"
In the fewest words possible Fred explained how the capture had been made, and Joe actually leaped for joy when the stolen money was displayed.