The dust cloud grew quickly nearer, and from it emerged the figure of a man on horseback.
"Someone coming," Dick called.
"Who is it?" Bud asked. From where he stood he was unable to see.
"Don't know yet. Looks familiar, though. Here he comes."
"It's Joe Hawkins!" exclaimed Bud, as the horseman rode into view. "Hi, Joe—Mr. Hawkins, I mean."
"Joe'll do, son," the deputy said with a smile as he dismounted. "Looks like you was havin' a convention here."
"Just thinking things over," the Kid, who had walked up, explained. "Glad you came, Mr. Hawkins."
"Thought that was you," Billee Dobb said, rising to his feet and removing the pipe from his mouth. "Seen you way off, and says to myself, bet that's Joe Hawkins."
"You got good eyes," laughed the deputy.
"Oh, it wasn't exactly my eyes. I had a hunch."