"He's struck something or other that's given him reason to chirk up," announced the observant Jimmy, as he took a shrewd look at Ned's face on the scout master drawing near. "Ten to one he's had word from the head of the Secret Service in Washington. It'd sure be pretty punk now if after comin' so far over deserts and the like to visit your uncle, we had to drop off here and take the train back to Los Angeles, so Ned could help gather in some gang of counterfeiters or look up a bunch of smugglers bringing the Heathen Chinese across the Mexican border while all that fighting is goin' on down there between Villa and Huerta."