He was outwitted as he had never been outwitted before in all his life.

Without speaking a syllable, he wheeled around and started at a rapid stride across the plateau toward the point where he had first appeared, with feelings which it is impossible to imagine.
And didn't Hank Hazletine "give him the laugh ?" He bent over with mirth, staggering backward until he had to place his hand against the side of the cavern to save himself from falling.

It really seemed as if his uproarious mirth must have penetrated a mile in every direction, and it did not cease until some minutes after the discomfited victim had disappeared.

Jack and Fred laughed, too, until their sides ached; and who shall deny that there was not full cause for their merriment?
An hour later, the ponies, saddled and bridled, were threading their way out of the foot-hills for the ranch, which was reached without further incident.

There the boys remained several days until Fred had recovered to a large extent from his hurts, when they rode to the station at Fort Steele, where they shook hands with the honest Hank Hazletine and bade him good-by.
And thus it came about that on the first Monday in the following November Jack Dudley and Fred Greenwood were in their respective seats at school, as eager and ambitious to press their studies as they had been to visit Bowman's ranch, in Southwestern Wyoming, in which ranch, by the way, they advised Mr.Dudley to retain his half-ownership.
"It's worth all it cost you, father," said Jack, "and perhaps one of these days you will want the V.W.