"Wa-al, what's up?" drawled Bud, as his followers came loping up; "anything I kin do? We're on our way back to ther hills frum town," he explained. "We caught more than twenty wild horses and took'em inter Blue Creek. One of ther boys sighted you away off or we'd have missed yer I reckin.
"Now, miss, I ain't one ter fergit a blow-out like thet yer gave us at Steer Wells. Jes say ther word an' if you like we'll tow this here cloud clipper back inter town."
"Let's see if we can't hit on a way of fixing it first," said
Wandering William; "you see," he explained to Bud, "the radiator—"
"Hyar, hold on thar. Talk United States language. What's wrong with this arrangement meter.
"It's sprung a leak," volunteered Peggy; "look here, you can see for yourself. The hole is tiny, but it's big enough to let out all the water that we need to cool the cylinders."
"Humph," said Bud crossing his hands on the horn of his saddle and gazing abstractedly at the leak, "what you need is solder," he announced presently.
"If we'd had any we'd been out of here long ago," rejoined Peggy, as
Roy, hearing the unusual noise, peered over the edge of the chassis.
"Hullo, kid; what's biting you?" demanded the breezy Bud.
"Guess I'm out of commission for a while," rejoined Roy bravely.
Peggy hastily explained the accident, and then, as she saw no harm in doing so, she gave Bud a hasty sketch of the events leading up to their being marooned on the alkali.