“So were ours—only it was Louie who did the stunt,” declared Dude.
At this announcement of the further humiliation of the avengers, the aged scout and the two men who had accompanied him roared with laughter.
“I suppose we ought to be thankful he didn’t kidnap the bunch of you!” grinned Ki Yi, when he had recovered from his mirth. “But from the hunger that’s gnawing my insides, I don’t know but I’d have been willing to swap Grouch for some food.”
“Don’t get too funny,” retorted the member of the Star and Moon outfit. “If you’d been any sort of fellows, you’d fixed Louie in the swamp and then the whole thing would have been over, instead of just starting in again.”
But no attention did Ki Yi or Deadshot pay to this remark.
For just as it was finished, Pinky came forward with some grub.
The sight of the cowboy they had supposed to be back at the ranch filled them with surprise and his welcome was none the less hearty because he appeared with food.
“Now, if Sandy were only here, we’d be all hunky,” asserted Ki Yi.
“Oh, I’m here all right,” announced the foreman of the Double Cross, advancing to where the others could see him.
And while the trio were satisfying their appetites, they listened to the story of what had happened to their pals who had been left to watch for the Midnight Raider, their narrow escape from the fire and the thrilling rescue of Bowser.