my goodness! what will I do?” groaned the wretched lad, as he once more felt his gaze drawn down to the bottom of the pit by some horrible fascination which he could not resist.

“Keep up your courage, old fellow,” said Adrian, feeling that at any cost he must prevent the other from giving way to despair, for that would surely cause his muscles to relax, and should this occur the end was certain. “See, I’ve got a vine here, and I’m lowering the big end to you as fast as I can. Perhaps now you might get a grip on that, if you felt your hands slipping away from the rock. It’s got a rough surface, and would hold better!”

“Thank you, Adrian, that sounds good to me; but hurry it along, please, for I’m afraid I’m slipping off right now!”

So the one above did hasten the descent of the vine; and in another moment he was gratified to realize that Billie had transferred his grip to that. The strain was tremendous, for Billie weighed almost as much as both his chums put together; but Adrian had prepared for this by bracing his feet against a rock, so there was small danger of his being pulled over the edge.

He could not begin to raise Billie alone and unaided, but he expected to hold fast until the coming of Donald.

Then again, Billie, having a new kind of grip now, was able to strain and draw until he had elevated himself a few feet, so that he could get a rest with his toes upon the very small ledge to which he had hitherto been clinging with his hands.

“It’s all right now, Adrian!” he sang out with sudden cheerfulness that contrasted queerly with the horror that had been in his voice only a minute previously; “I’m fixed different than before, and I reckon I can hold out till Donald comes up. Oh! you can keep on shakin’ your old rattleboxes down there; but this ain’t the time you get Broncho Billie. But I tell you now, that was the closest shave I ever had happen to me, sure it was.”

Donald soon came panting along, full of dire

forebodings, because it had taken him considerably longer to go and return than he had expected; and there was no telling what might not have happened to poor, tired Billie in the meantime. But as he had heard no shouts from Adrian, he kept hoping for the best.

When he saw how cleverly his chum had made use of the trailing vine that had seemed to grow just where it could be utilized, as though Billie’s attendant good angel was as always on the job, Donald gave a faint cheer.

“Bully for you, Ad!” he cried, as he flung himself down by the edge of the rattlesnake pit, to lower the loop of his lariat; “trust you to think up some smart trick, while dummies like me can only remember that they own a rope. Hi! Billie, can you kick your legs into that loop, and let me draw it up under your arms?”

“Sure I can, Donald; just try me,” came from below; and then ensued a vigorous shifting of the dangling lower extremities of the imperiled boy, until finally the expert user of the rope above managed to lasso them both; after which it was a simple thing to draw the loop to where he wanted.

Then the two above proceeded to pull Billie up. He scrambled over the edge with a red face, and a broad grin on the same that was just the opposite to that look of terror they had so lately seen there. But all the same they were delighted to get him

back unharmed; and both boys squeezed his hand in a way that told Billie how tremendously they had been aroused by his sudden peril.

“That was a silly slip of mine, sure it was,” he admitted immediately; for Billie was always ready to own up to making blunders, which was one reason they found it so hard to condemn him; “and let’s get away from this place as quick as we can, boys. Huh! no Gila Monster for me after this, I reckon. I’ve had as close a call to being stung as I ever want to get. Gimme a chance to rest up a bit, and then I’ll be ready to hike out of this blessed region, where there’s more snakes to the square foot than anywhere on earth, seems like.”

Less than half an hour later the Broncho Rider Boys were returning to the copper mine by the same tortuous route which they had taken to reach the lofty place where the view had been worth all the trouble the journey had cost them.

Billie was unusually quiet on the return trip. Truth to tell he was feeling as tired as though he had done the greatest day’s work of his life; for the strain on body and mind, while he hung there above those hissing and rattling snakes, had been simply terrific. He knew that he would feel it for several days; but his nature was such that past troubles sat very lightly on his mind; and he would soon be joking about his strange experience.

It was pretty certain however, that Billie had had

his lesson; and after that should he have occasion to come within a certain distance of any sort of viper the fat boy was pretty apt to make sure of his footing; one experience of that kind ought to be quite enough.

CHAPTER III.—ON THE TRAIL TO THE ZUNI VILLAGE.

“Well, here we are on the road to the Zuni village, and with pretty near a whole day’s journey to the good behind us!”

Broncho Billie said this as he rode close behind his two chums. Several days had passed since that thrilling adventure with the rattlesnakes of the rocky den; and the boys had made ample preparations for their trip.

As it was so much more comfortable to sleep under some sort of shelter, at the earnest solicitation of Billie, who liked comfort when he could have it, they had accepted the offer of a tent from Corse Tibbals, the overseer and head man at the mine, being one that had served him many a time in the past, but which he felt he could easily spare, seeing that these lads had worked a miracle in the way things were happening at the Red Spar Mine.

This same tent was loaded upon an extra mount, a sorrel mule that the boys had named “Bray,” because that seemed to be his favorite amusement at various times during the day and night. And there were also many bundles fastened to the back of the pack animal, said to contain all sorts of food, and presents from the miners and their wives; all of whom felt so grateful to Donald and his chums because they had brought the dangerous condition of affairs to an end, and by making new contracts with the men, caused happiness to dwell in the shanties that composed the little mining hamlet near the Red Spar.

Billie liked to lead Bray. Many were the glances he cast during the day upon those various packages, the contents of which appealed to him greatly; because it happened that the fat boy possessed a pretty healthy appetite, and the subject of gratifying the same occupied considerable of his attention when awake.

They had really put in quite an arduous eight hours, and boys, as well as ponies, showed more or less signs of being tired as the afternoon shadows lengthened, and it seemed as though the day would soon come to a close, when they might be looking for a decent camping spot in order to pass the first night out on the trail.

Donald turned his head to glance at the fat boy

when Billie made the assertion which starts this chapter.

“All of which is true enough, Billie,” he remarked, with a twinkle in his eye; “and given a couple more such days we ought to get to where we’re aiming for. But you know from past experiences, you never can tell what’s going to happen in this Arizona country. Any time a fellow is apt to run across some sort of an outlaw cattle rustler, and be taken in by him as an easy mark!”

At that Adrian could be heard chuckling; while Billie turned fiery red, and appeared to bristle up more or less, as he hastily went on to say:

“Oh! go on