which is the best—providing, of course, you can get a comfortable living at either place."
Just as the three were walking back to the ranch the sounds of a horse's hoofs broke upon their ears.
"Can it be Allen?" burst out Chet, but then his face fell. "No, it's not his style of riding."
"Oh, pshaw!" whispered Paul a second later. "If it isn't Captain Grady!"
"And who is he?" queried Noel.
"An old prospector who wants to get possession of this ranch. He claims that our title to it is defective, or not good at all. I wonder what he wants now?"
"Perhaps he's got more evidence to prove his claim to the place," groaned Chet. "Oh, dear! Troubles never come singly, true enough!"
With anxious hearts the two brothers walked forward to meet the new arrival, whose face bore a look of insolence and self-satisfaction.
Captain Hank Grady was a tall, evil-looking man of forty years of age. His title was merely one of favor, for he had neither served in the army nor the navy. But little was known of his past by the people of the section, and he never
