“Ther Injuns got next ter ther fact thet our ammunition wuz runnin’ short, an’ they wuz gittin’ some gay; sorter takin’ advantage o’ us in a way.  I could see thet they wuz gettin’ ready ter make a rush down inter ther valley an’ massacree us all, an’ we prepared ter sell our lives dearly.

“One mornin’ we missed Ezra, ther goat.  I’ll never fergit ther misery on ther face o’ Ping-pong when he finds it out.

“‘Bud,’ he says ter me, ‘I’m goin’ out ter find Ezra, an’ if them Injuns hez got him, I’m goin’ ter bust ther whole tribe wide open.’

“I tried ter persuade him not ter go, but he will, so I goes with him.  We sneaks up ther side o’ ther hill, an’ looks over ther ridge right down inter ther Injun village.  The sight what met our gaze almost, but not quite, made me bust open with laughin’.

“Ther Injuns wuz all down on their hands an’ knees, bowin’ ter Ezra, who wuz walkin’ eround on his hind legs, sashayin’ sideways an’ noddin’ his head jest like a live bock-beer sign.  Yer see, ther Injuns hed never seen a goat before, an’ when Ezra walks onto them, waggin’ his whiskers in a wise sort o’ way, they thinks he’s some kind o’ a god, er somethin’ like that.  But when he got up on his hind legs an’ begin ter sashay thet settled it.  They wuz shore o’ it then.

“We watched ther performance fer a while, then ther Injuns got up an’ begin ter mosey.  In an hour thar wuzn’t a Injun within twenty mile.  They jest hit ther high places fer home.

“Thet wuz ther way Ezra saved our party.  After thet he could hev et every boot in ther outfit, an’ thar wouldn’t hev been a kick.”

“What became of him?” asked Kit.

“Oh, he went back home with Ping an’ raised a large family, an’ they wuz talkin’ o’ runnin’ him fer ther legislature an account o’ his whiskers an’ his smartness.”

“He was a smart goat, wasn’t he?” said Dick.

“You bet.  Thet’s why I said that some goats wuz jest ez smart ez lots o’ collidge gradooates what I hev met.”

CHAPTER XX.

The counterfeit bank note.

When they arose in the morning the train was speeding over the prairie, and Dick could hardly be pulled away from the window long enough to go to breakfast with Stella and Mrs. Graham, so great was his delight at being in the “really and truly” wild West.

When they were all back in the car again, Ted, for the first time, noticed a large man, flashily dressed, who wore a flaming red necktie, and who evidently thought himself irresistible to the ladies.

He walked up and down the aisle on the slightest pretext, ogling every pretty woman in the car, and Ted was getting very tired of it, especially as once or twice he had the impertinence to stop and look into the stateroom in which Stella and Mrs. Graham were sitting.

“I’ll take a fall out of that fellow if he keeps up that sort of thing much longer,” said Ted, who was sitting beside Kit.