“Didn’t bring ’em back with you this time, did you?” sneered Hinkee Dee as the boys rode into the corral at the ranch.
“No, but we’re on their track,” replied Jerry, good-naturedly. “And we’ll have them in a few days now.”
“Well, give ’em my regards,” said the cowboy.
“Why, are the rustlers friends of yours?” asked Ned in drawling tones.
Hinkee Dee turned like a flash.
“What do you mean by that?” he cried.
“Just the same as you meant,” was Ned’s cool rejoinder; and, after a moment’s insolent scrutiny of the lad, Ned never flinching under the gaze, the assistant foreman swung away muttering.
“You an’ him don’t seem to pull together very well,” observed Gimp, leaping from his pony.
“That doesn’t worry me any,” said Ned.