“The only two things we are sure of,” observed Ned, “is that the professor has disappeared, after calling for help, and that something has been dragged along here by horses. And they are both queer things.”
“The only thing to do is to keep on searching and calling and shooting,” said Jerry. “And we don’t want to do too much of the latter, for we haven’t a big supply of cartridges, and we may need them.”
“What for?” Bob asked.
“Well, you never can tell what will happen,” was the answer. “It’s best to be prepared and well armed, especially in this region of cattle rustlers.”
“And we’re forgetting all about them!” exclaimed Ned. “We haven’t done the exploring up here we set out to do.”
“We had to drop it,” Jerry said. “The professor came first, of course.”
“Oh, sure,” Ned agreed with him. “I wonder,” he went on musingly, “if the rustlers are around here?”
“I only wish they were!” exclaimed Jerry, warmly. “They’re just the ones we’d like to see. They might put us on the trail of the professor. That is,” he chuckled, “if they didn’t feel hurt because we had caught them.”
“Do you expect to nab ’em?” asked Bob.
“Say ‘hope’ instead of ‘expect,’” suggested the tall lad with a smile.