But those who knew Frank best were certain he would not seek to avoid trouble with the foreman of the Lone Star, and they felt a foreboding of coming trouble.
CHAPTER XXVII—COWBOY PECULIARITIES
After breakfast the little party went out upon the broad veranda.
The sun was still red, but it was growing smaller and hotter as it mounted into the sky.
Its slanting rays lighted up a rolling prairie, illimitable in expanse and stretching away till its irregular, wavy outline was marked against the sky.
Now and then, miles away, small clumps of stunted jack-oaks or mesquite made dark green polka dot spots on the lighter color of the grass, while far away lay a genuine chaparral thicket.
Between the ranch and the chaparral a herd of several hundred cattle were feeding.
Near the ranch house were outbuildings and corrals.
In the vicinity of these a number of cowboys could be seen moving about.
Still urging the boys to make themselves at home, Rodney left them. Before he departed, he sighted a body of horsemen riding down rapidly from the northeast.