"
Uncle Ike laid his nose against Ned's shoulder and gave him a push.
"He's in a hurry!" the boy laughed. "We ought to be, too! Is it
possible that one of the boys saddled him for a ride on the mountain
in the night?"
"Just like Jack or Oliver. Or Jimmie may have returned and planned
one of his midnight expeditions!"
"Get up and ride," Ned advised. "I'll walk and try to place that
man's face."
"You might have seen it in the rogue's gallery," suggested Frank,
leaping into the saddle and starting away, the mule pulling and
rearing every moment.
Finally Ned called out to him to stop, and walked up to his side.
"What is the matter with Uncle Ike?" he asked.
"He insists on keeping down toward the canyon," was Frank's reply.
"We came cat-cornering down the slope, didn't we?"
"We certainly did," Ned answered, considering the matter gravely.
"Tell you what you do," he went on, "let the mule have his head! Let
him go just where he wants to. It is the instinct of animals to
follow precedent, same as men. A man will follow a cow path until it
becomes a city street, and a cow, a horse, or a mule will follow a
trail previously used--if only passed over once! Let the mule have
his head, and he may take us to the place where somebody was dumped!"
"Solomon had nothing on you, Ned!" laughed Frank.
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