all consideration for the hapless Pony Rider Boy, the Major declaring that every rug in the room should be removed and a carpet put down in its place. He said it was criminal to have such a trap in the house.

"I do hope you didn't hurt yourself," said Miss Millicent sympathetically.

"Oh, not at all. I frequently sit down that way before dinner," answered the fat boy.

"Do you, indeed?" smiled the young woman.

"Oh, yes. You see it gives me an appetite for dinner. It's great. You should try it. Of course at first you should go outside and sit down on the ground where it's soft. When you get used to that you may try the floor."

Miss Millicent laughed merrily. There was no resisting Stacy's drollery.

Once more they took up their interrupted journey to the dining room, where the boys found themselves in charming surroundings. In spite of Stacy Brown's awkwardness, the Clowneys soon discovered that the Pony Rider Boys were well worth knowing. The lads were self-possessed, and their experiences in the saddle in many parts of the country enabled them to talk interestingly. As usual, Stacy made most of the merriment, and every time the fat boy spoke a little wave of good-natured laughter rippled around the table.

"I fear," said Miss Millicent, in answer to Stacy's description of how he got an appetite, "that I should prefer to fast."

"Oh, you wouldn't after you got used to the other way," the fat boy assured her.

"That is Stacy's way of apologizing for his appetite, Miss Clowney," said Ned across the table.

"No one need apologize for a healthy appetite," replied the Major promptly. "The apology, should come for the opposite reason."

Chunky bowed his approval of the sentiment.

"That is what I always tell the boys," he said. "Sleep out of doors all the time and you will get an appetite that will be almost annoying," he promised.

"Ah—ahem," interrupted the Professor. "Major, did I understand you to say that you had procured a guide for us?"

"Yes, yes. I have been enjoying our young friends to the extent that I forgot all about the business end. I have obtained the services of Bill Lilly as your guide."

"Is he a good one?" asked Ned.

"The best in this part of the country. He knows the brake as do few other men. Another man, Pete Austen—otherwise known as Alligator Pete—was eager to get the job, but I consider him an unreliable man. There are stories abroad not at all to the credit of Austen. But you may depend upon Lilly in any and all circumstances."

"How far is the brake from here?" asked Tad.

"A day's ride will take you to it. You never have been in the brake?"

"No, sir."

"Then you have a new experience before you, Mr. Butler. Lilly will meet you at your hotel at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, and you may start at once, though it would please me to have you remain with us longer."

"Perhaps we shall see you when we return from the brake," said Tad.

"I should think you young men would not want to go into that awful place," said Miss Millicent with a shudder.

"And pray, why not?" questioned Tad.

"It is such a horrible place."

"Oh, you don't know us fellows," interjected Stacy. "We are used to horrible places. I reckon there aren't many such in this country that we haven't been in. What is there so horrible about this—this canebrake?"

"Snakes, lots of them, foul deadly fellows," answered Miss Millicent.

"Ugh!" exclaimed the fat boy, his eyes growing large.

"Alligators, wild animals, almost anything that you might think of you will find in the canebrake," she added.

"Don't frighten the boys before they get into the brake," begged the Major.

A grim smile curled the corners of Professor Zepplin's lips. He was rather sensitive on the subject of timidity so far as his young friends were concerned.

"Major, I fear you do not know my boys."

"How so, Professor?"

"They are unafraid. They are afraid of nothing. My life would be much easier were they a little less so."

"Fine! Chivalrous, too, eh?"

"Indeed, yes," nodded the Professor.

"Yes, I have saved the lives of lots of folks," declared Stacy pompously.

"Do tell us about it," urged Miss Clowney.

"I couldn't think of it. I'm too modest to brag about myself."

In the meantime Tad Butler, the Professor and Major Clowney had become absorbed in the subject of big game, which the three were discussing learnedly. The hosts were amused at Stacy Brown, but they were irresistibly drawn to Tad, both because of his sunny disposition and the lad's keen mind, so unusual for one of his age.

The dinner came to an end all too soon to suit the Pony Rider Boys, and the party moved towards the drawing room. Stacy, seating Miss Millicent, strolled to one of the broad, open windows which had been swung back against the wall on their hinges. The fat boy thought this window opened out on the veranda, so he stepped out for a breath of air, but his feet touched nothing more substantial than air. Stacy took a tumble into the side yard, landing on his head and shoulders. The young women of the family cried out in alarm when they saw the fat boy disappearing through the window.

"Are you hurt? Are you hurt?" cried the Clowneys, rushing to the window, the Major leaping out with the agility of youth.

"Hurt?" piped a voice from the darkness. "Certainly not. Just settling my dinner, that's all. I usually do this. Sometimes when I am out in the woods and there isn't a house to jump from, I just climb a tree after dinner and fall out."

"I think we had better get Stacy home before he gets into more serious difficulty," said Tad in a low tone to the Professor.

"I agree with you, Tad. However, he has done his worst, I guess. Look at his coat. It is ripped for six inches at the shoulder," groaned the Professor.

"That must have been where he hit the side yard," smiled Tad, after quiet had been restored.

After half an hour of pleasant conversation, during which the fat boy entertained Miss Millicent with stories of his prowess in mountain and on plain, the Pony Rider Boys took their leave, voting the Clowneys the most pleasant people they had ever met.

With this pleasant evening their social amusement was at an end. On the morrow they were to begin their rough life in the open again, and during their explorations in the canebrake they were destined to have many thrilling experiences and some adventures, the like of which had never befallen any of the hardy Pony Rider Boys.

CHAPTER II

BOUND FOR THE CANE JUNGLE

Eight o'clock on the following morning found Tad Butler strolling up and down in front of the hotel for his morning airing. By his side walked Bill Lilly, whom Tad had found waiting for them in the lobby of the hotel.

Bill, who was to guide the party through the maze of the canebrake, was a type. He was a spare man, with a long, drooping, colorless moustache, gentle blue eyes, and a frame of steel and whipcord. Billy, it was said, had been known to follow the trail of a bear on foot for days until he finally ran the animal down and killed it. When night came he would throw himself down on the trail and go to sleep or crouch like a wild turkey high up in the crotch of a giant cypress. Unlike the guides of the north, Billy loved to talk. He had not, however, looked forward to the task before him with any great enthusiasm, believing that he was to guide a party of soft-muscled boys through the jungle, boys who would need looking after constantly. He had not thought to find a seasoned woodsman like young Butler. Though Tad had said nothing about himself, Lilly's experienced blue eyes told him that here was no tenderfoot, but a woodsman after his own heart.

Shortly afterwards the rest of the party came down. Tad introduced them to the guide, then proposed that they look the horses over. Stacy