Ned and Alan returned with them and
smiling good-naturedly right and left took stand at the forward car
steps.
It was about two o'clock in the afternoon, but so anxious had the
boys become in the last stage of their journey that they had ordered
Elmer to put off the noonday meal until they reached Clarkeville.
The colored boy, troubled over the notion of a good dinner spoiling,
was waiting on the car platform for it chance to get his "bosses,"
as be delighted to call them, into the car.
Before he could do so, and while the two chums were answering idle
questions as to whether they were a "show," Ned's quick eye caught
sight of a more important personage. A middle-aged man, not quite
so western in appearance as the others, but plainly as much at home
in the saddle, rode up with a clatter and sprang from his pony.
Ned advanced quickly, spurred on by the new arrival's quick "Howdy,
strangers!"
"My name is Ned Napier," explained the lad, "and this is my friend,
Alan Hope."
The rider held out his hand.
"I'm Curt Bradley, and I'm the mayor of this town," he replied by
way of introduction.
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