"Well, here I am."
"So we see," observed Billee Dobb, dryly, not to say sarcastically.
"Where have you been?" asked Bud.
"Did they capture you and hold you for ransom?" Nort wanted to know.
"What happened?" asked Dick.
"With my usual stupidity I became lost again," explained Professor Wright. "I have been out looking around, 'prospecting,' I believe it is called, seeking a new deposit of fossil bones. I wandered farther than I intended, and got across the creek. I found I was on the wrong trail, and that there was nothing much of interest there, so I turned to come back. But I must have turned the wrong way, and have gone south instead of north, for I began to note signs that I was approaching the Mexican border.
"I started back then, when these gentlemen overtook me. They were very kind and when I told them where I wanted to go they agreed to accompany me."
"Passing over for the time being the use of the word 'gentlemen,' and realizing that you probably don't know them as well as we do, I'd like to ask if they said why they were coming this way?" asked Billee.
"No, they didn't, and I didn't ask them," replied the professor. "They just seemed to be riding for pleasure."
"Pleasure of their own kind," chuckled Snake.