"Say, is that fellow moving the burro, or is the burro moving him?" inquired Joe, with perfectly natural curiosity.
Faster and faster moved the man's legs over the ground, as he came nearer to the auto.
"I should think he'd walk and let the burro ride," laughed Nat.
As he spoke the boy checked the auto and it came to a standstill. The tall rider could now be seen to be an aged man with a long, white beard, and a brown, sunburned face, framed oddly by his snowy whiskers. He glanced at the boys with a pair of keen eyes as he drew alongside, and stopped his long-eared steed with a loud:
"Whoa!"
"Howdy," said Cal.
"Howdy," rejoined the stranger, "whar you from?"
"South," said Cal.
"Whar yer goin'?"
"North," was the rejoinder.