Hop was still sound asleep, however, and when his brother tried to arouse him it did no good.

It was not until our friends had eaten their breakfast that it occurred to them that it was time for Hop to get up.

Charlie undertook the task of rousing him.

He threw a pail of water on him, and, as might be supposed, it had the desired effect.

"Lat allee light, Misler Charlie," said the Celestial, as he made for the brook, after crawling out of the tent; "me allee samee git tee square, so be!"

"You're square now, if I know anything about it," was the retort. "You don't count ther tricks you're played on me, I s'pose? Now, you'd better look out what yer do ter me, 'cause I won't stand it, if yer rub somethin' good an' hard on me."

"Allee light, Misler Charlie," was all Hop said just then.

The breakfast being over, Young Wild West decided to take a ride through the pa.s.s, and thus keep his promise.

"Come, boys," said he, "I reckon we'll start out now. We'll go right on through, unless it happens that we are stopped by the outlaws. When we come back I'll show you the place where Cap Roche disappeared last night."

"I would like to go along, Wild," spoke up Arietta, "Why can't we all go?"

"Well, it might make it a little bad in case the villains took a notion to hold us up," was the reply. "But if you want to go real bad I suppose you may."

"We do want to go real bad, don't we, girls?" said Arietta, as she turned to Anna and Eloise.

"Of course, we do!" was the quick reply.

"All right, then. Hop and Wing will stay in charge of the camp. Get yourselves ready, and be sure that you take your rifles with you. If we are attacked by a masked gang about half way through the pa.s.s I won't be much surprised."

The horses were soon saddled, and then, after giving the two Chinamen instructions to keep a watch on the camp, and not to get into mischief, Wild led the way for Forbidden Pa.s.s.

"We are going through, and we won't pay any toll, either!" he said.

"If there is any toll to pay, I'll pay it!" exclaimed Arietta, as she touched the b.u.t.t of her revolver.

CHAPTER VIII.

CAPTURED IN THE Pa.s.s.

As our friends neared the commencement of Forbidden Pa.s.s they saw that a crowd of the miners of the camp were watching them.

A man, whom they easily recognized as Sedgwick, waved his hand to them, and they answered it.

"I suppose he thinks that something will surely happen to us, if the outlaws are still hanging around here," our hero observed. "Well, he may be right; we can't tell."

"I want to read that sign, Wild," spoke up Arietta, as she brought her horse to a halt. "Well, it was not painted by an ignorant man, anyhow.

It is about the first sign, with so many letters to it, that I have seen spelled correctly--in a little camp, like this, anyhow."

"Oh, I reckon Cap Roche made the sign, all right, Et," replied our hero.

"He seems to be a pretty smart man. The lettering is good, I must say.

And there is even a painted background--something I did not notice last night, boys. A pale-blue background, with white letters. Well, that is all right!"

"We have got to pay toll, I suppose, Arietta," said Jim, with a twinkle in his eye.

"I said a minute or two ago that I would pay it, if any was demanded,"

she retorted. "Just leave that part to me."

No one knew exactly what she meant, and it is hardly likely that she did herself. But there was one thing evident, and that was that she did not mean that any money was to be handed over to the outlaws, should it be demanded.

They did not remain at a halt long, but proceeded on their way, their horses at a gentle canter.

"Just keep your eyes on the watch for three stones lying close together," said Wild, as they got nearly a mile through the pa.s.s. "They are stones a little larger than a goose egg, I should judge."

"All right," answered the scout, with a confident nod. "I reckon I'll see 'em, if they kin be seen, Wild."

A minute or two later they came to the very spot where Wild had seen the villain disappear the night before.

The boys could tell when he got there right away, as he had noticed the spot where he had dismounted, the ground being rather soft there; and the hoofprints, as well as his own footprints were discernible.

Charlie and Jim noticed the prints, too, and they were almost straining their eyes to catch sight of the three stones.

Suddenly the scout gave an exclamation of satisfaction, and then quickly added:

"I see 'em, Wild."

"So do I," said Jim, almost at the same instant.

"All right, boys. We'll go right on through the pa.s.s, and when we come back we'll make an investigation."

The girls also saw the three little stones, but when they found that Wild did not seem to want to make much of them just then they rode on, with only a pa.s.sing comment.

They reached the other end of the pa.s.s without meeting a human being or seeing anything that would indicate the presence of any.

Then they dismounted and took a look at the sign that was posted there.

It was so nearly like the other that if the two had been side by side the difference could not have been told.

This one was nailed to a big tree, and after he had looked it over Wild decided to take it down and see if there was anything on the other side of it.

He used the b.u.t.t of a revolver in place of a hammer and soon knocked the barrel-head loose from the tree.

Then it was quickly pried off.

Much to his satisfaction, he saw that there was some lettering on the back of the sign.

But it was done in black, and the letters were daubed on in a careless way, such as a shipping house clerk does it.

Young Wild West's face lighted up with a smile as he read the following:

"Cap Roche,"