“There!  I guess we are even with you now, Professor,” laughed the boy.  “That old hat of yours won’t hold water next time you go to the spring.”

“I thought you folks didn’t know how to shoot,” wondered the Ranger.  “I guess I’d better take some lessons from you instead of you from me.  That certainly was mighty fine gun work.  Where did you learn?”

“Since we have been out.  I am not much of a shot with the revolver, though.  I think I can do better with the rifle.”

“How about the rest of you?” questioned the captain.  “Do all of you shoot like that?”

“I suppose I am about the best shot in the outfit,” answered Stacy pompously.  “I can hit a penny—–­”

“Yes, if the penny is glued to the muzzle,” interrupted Ned.

“We’ll see what you can do.”

Stacy, after three shots, failed to hit the hat once.  Walter and Ned each succeeded in placing a bullet through the professor’s hat.  Chunky insisted that his bullet went through one of the holes made by Tad Butler.  He declared that he had never missed an easy shot like that in his life.

“Here, hit my hat,” commanded Tad, tossing his sombrero into the air.  The fat boy watched the soaring hat with longing eyes.

“Shoot, shoot, why don’t you?” jeered the Pony Rider Boys.

“All right if you say so.”

Stacy’s pistol stuck in the holster and by the time he had freed the weapon the sombrero was only some seven or eight feet from the ground.

“Yeow!” howled the fat boy letting go two bullets with a speed that they had no idea he possessed.

“It’s a hit!” cried the professor.

Tad ran forward and picked up the hat.

“Well, what do you think of that?” he wondered.

“Did he hit it?” called Walter.

“Of course he did.”

“Oh, pooh!  That hole was in your sombrero before he shot,” scoffed Ned Rector.

“You are wrong.  There were no holes in the hat.  Now there are two.  Stacy sent two bullets through my hat instead of one.”

“Hooray!” shouted the boys.

“I didn’t think it of you, Brown,” smiled the captain.  “I take back all I have said against your character and your ability.”

“Oh, don’t mention it.  That’s nothing.  I usually shoot my hat full of holes before breakfast every morning when I’m home.  Anybody else want his hat transformed into a sieve?”

“I think you have done quite enough,” returned the professor.  “You have done fully as well as I could have done.  Ahem!”

“Really remarkable shooting for tenderfeet,” declared the captain.

“Tenderfeet?  Well, I like that!” grumbled Stacy.  “Why, I’m a lion fighter, I am!”

“And a snake man as well,” grinned the Ranger.

“Yes.   I’m no tenderfoot.   Did I run away when the shooting was going
on last night?   I guess not.   I-----”

“No, he was too scared to run,” snorted Rector.