The Essential Edward Stratemeyer Collection. Stratemeyer Edward

the cowboy. "Sweeter, too, maybe," he added. Many fishermen think that the higher up a stream you go for fish, the sweeter they are to the taste.

      The cowboy had certainly set a smart pace, but none of the boys grumbled, for they were as anxious as he to reach the mountains and look for game.

      "Of course you can keep your eyes open around here," he said, as they galloped along. "But you won't see much, I'm afraid."

      "I see some grouse!" cried the shipowner's son, a few minutes later. "We might bring some of those down and cook them for supper. We won't want to wait to do it for dinner."

      He pointed to some grouse far away, and all agreed that the fowls would make good eating. They rode behind some bushes, tied their horses, and went forward with caution. All fired together, and when the smoke cleared away they saw that four of the game had been laid low. The rest had flown away, and to follow them would have been useless.

      "Well, four are all right!" cried Roger, and was about to rush forward to pick up the grouse when of a sudden Dave yelled to him to stop.

      "What's the matter?" asked the senator's son.

      "A snake!" screamed Phil. And as he spoke all in the party saw what Dave had first discovered. A rattlesnake had appeared from a hole in a tree, close to where the dead grouse lay!

      CHAPTER XXVI

      AFTER DEER

      "A rattlesnake!"

      "Take care that he doesn't bite you!"

      "My, what a big fellow!"

      "He is heading this way!"

      Such were some of the cries uttered by the young hunters and Sid Todd as all beheld a large-sized snake crawling from a hole under the tree. That it was a rattler there was no doubt.

      All leaped back, for the sight momentarily stunned them. But then Dave recovered his presence of mind and blazed away with his shotgun, hitting the reptile in the middle, and inflicting several ugly but not mortal wounds. The rattlesnake gave a hiss, glided under some leafy bushes, and there commenced to sound his rattles.

      "He's going to strike!" cried Phil, and as he spoke the shotgun in Sid Todd's hands was discharged. He fired among the leaves, and whether or not he hit the snake, nobody could tell.

      "Don't go near him," called out Roger. He hated snakes about as much as he hated anything.

      All waited, and while doing so, Dave and Todd took the opportunity to reload. They were just finishing when Phil, chancing to look behind them, uttered a yell that would have done credit to an Apache Indian.

      "Look out! One of 'em is behind us!"

      The others all took his word for it, and leaped to one side. True enough, a second rattlesnake had appeared, and now a third was coming to light, from under a rock near by.

      "It's a den of rattlers!" screamed Sid Todd. "Run for it, boys! No use of trying to kill 'em off! They are too many for us!"

      The boys were already running at top speed, and the cowboy joined them. In order to gain the horses, they had to move in a semicircle. When they reached the animals, they found the steeds exceedingly nervous and inclined to bolt.

      "Reckon they smell the snakes," was Todd's comment. "A hoss ain't got no use for rattlers--and I ain't nuther," he added, and rode away, with the boys beside him.

      "What about the grouse?" asked Phil, mournfully.

      "Do you want to go back after them?" questioned Dave, with a grim smile.

      "Not for a thousand dollars!"

      "Then I guess we'll have to let the snakes have them," went on Dave. "Let us be thankful that we weren't bitten."

      "Rattlesnakes is the one drawback to this country," said the cowboy, when they were a safe distance from the reptiles. "I don't mind wild beasts, but I do draw the line on snakes. But there ain't near so many as there used to be, an' some day there won't be any at all."

      "After this I am going to beware of holes that look snaky," was Roger's comment. "I think if a rattlesnake got close to me I'd be paralyzed with fright."

      As they went on, they kept their eyes open for more game, and just before resting for dinner Dave saw some grouse high up in a tree in a hollow. With caution they advanced, this time on horseback, and all fired together as before. Out of the tree fluttered seven grouse, for they had been close together and the shot had created great havoc. All but one were dead and the seventh was quickly dispatched by Todd.

      "We'll have some good eating to-night, after all," said Roger, with a grin. He liked fowl of all kinds.

      The stop for dinner was made beside a mountain spring, where the water was icy cold and as clear as crystal. They took their time eating, thus allowing the horses a chance to rest and to crop the nearby grass.

      "We have covered about twenty miles," said the cowboy, in reply to a question from Phil.

      "Then, if we do as well this afternoon, we'll be forty miles from the ranch by the time we camp to-night."

      "We'll not make over ten or twelve miles this afternoon, lad," was the answer. "It will be hard climbing up the hills."

      "But harder climbing to-morrow," put in Dave.

      "Yes, to-morrow will test the horses, and test you, too," said Todd.

      It was very pleasant to rest in the shade after such a long ride in the sun, but the cowboy was anxious to reach a certain camping spot for the night, and so he allowed only three-quarters of an hour for the midday halt.

      As soon as they left the spring, the youths realized what was before them. The trail now led constantly upward, and was in parts stony and uncertain. In several places they had to leap brooks of fair size.

      "This isn't so nice," remarked Phil, as they came to a halt, to allow the horses to rest after a particularly difficult hill had been climbed.

      "Oh, this is nothing to the traveling we'll do to-morrow," answered Sid Todd. "We are only in the foothills now--to-morrow we'll be right in the mountains."

      About four o'clock they gained the top of another hill. As they came out in a cleared spot all gazed around with interest.

      "Look!" cried Dave, pointing with his hand. "Am I mistaken, or are those deer?"

      He was pointing to the top of another hill about half a mile distant. There, outlined against the sky, could be seen a number of animals grazing.

      "Deer, my boy!" cried Sid Todd. "A fine lot of 'em, too, or I'm mistaken!"

      "Oh, let us go after them!" exclaimed Roger, impulsively.

      "I'm willing," answered the cowboy. "But I don't know if you can get any of 'em to-night. It will be a hard climb to where they are. I don't know as we can go all the way on hosses."

      "Then we'll go on foot," cried Dave. He was as anxious as his chums to get a shot at the big game.

      The cowboy studied the situation for several minutes, meanwhile withdrawing himself and the others to a spot where the distant deer might not see them. Then he led the party down the hill and in the direction of the game.

      If traveling had been hard before, it was doubly so now, and the chums realized that to get to where the deer were grazing would be no easy matter. They had to slip and slide over the rocks, and once or twice they reached places where further progress seemed impossible.

      "If we get any of those deer, we'll earn them!" panted Phil, as he half climbed, half slid, over some rocks. "If my horse goes down, I don't know what will happen to