"What happened?" called Dick, as he dismounted beside his cousin.
"It's a strange story," said Bud in a weak voice. "I've been practically kidnaped and put under the spell of some sort of poison gas."
"Kidnaped!" cried Snake.
"Poison gas!" echoed Billee.
"Who did it?" demanded Nort.
"Rustlers, I reckon," said Bud as he sank down on a bowlder and drank greedily from the canteen Dick offered. "I was surprised by a crowd of men back there," and he nodded back up the gulch. "They shot some sort of vapor at me that knocked me out, and I've been a prisoner ever since. I just managed to get away."
"Tell us about it!" cried Nort.
"And we'll go back there and clean those fellows out!" shouted Yellin'
Kid, reaching for his gun.
He would have put his threat into execution, too, but Bud restrained him with a gesture as he said:
"It's no use!"