"A cinch!" cried Chub, electrified. "I'll bet money that's the way of it. But those two handy-boys may be on the way to Mexico now. If that's so, I can see where we get off!"
"If we can't catch the robbers," said Matt, "maybe we can catch Pima Pete."
"What good would that do? Clip don't want him caught."
"I don't mean to bring him to Phœnix," pursued Matt, "nor to turn him over to the officers. If we could find him, and make him swear to what he and Clip did last night, that ought to help Clip's case a whole lot."
"That means, then, we've got two strings to pull—either find the two robbers or find Pima Pete."
"This clue may help," and Matt pointed to the note which lay on the table.
"I'm not banking a whole lot on that. It's got all the earmarks of a false alarm. Goin' to show it to McKibben?"
"I'm not going to show it to anybody. It may not amount to anything, but we'll run it down and make sure."
Just then the pounding of a motor from the road in front reached the boys.
"Great guns!" exclaimed Chub, looking from a window. "There's McKibben, now, and he's stopping in front."