Men had been rolled in blankets upon the ground to the number of a score.
But these were now upon their feet. Just beyond it could be seen that mustangs were corralled.
Frank Reade, Jr., had no way of knowing whether the campers were friends or foes.
He had fancied them a part of Cliff’s cowboys. Still there was a possibility they were not.
At any rate he could not treat them as foes until he learned positively that they were such.
So he brought the Steam Man to a stop just fifty yards from the camp.
The scene in the camp now was a ludicrous one.
The men were filled with mingled fear, amazement and stupefaction at the sight of the Steam Man.
The fiery eyes and nostrils and mammoth proportions of the man in the darkness made him look like a monster from the infernal regions.
The startled cries of the campers came to the amused hearing of those in the wagon.