“Oh, of course! But, it sure is a queer game.”
The capture of Professor Snodgrass—if capture it was—seemed to put a quietus on the cattle raids. The stock at Square Z ranch had not been molested since his capture, and the foreman and his cowboys were beginning to feel that perhaps the operating gang had been frightened off because of the vigorous search made for them.
Meanwhile, Professor Snodgrass had not been forgotten. A systematic search was kept up for him, but without result. Circulars describing him had been sent through the mail to various ranches and to the neighboring cities. Cowboys from other ranges made trips to the mountain where he had last been seen and tried to find the little scientist. But he seemed to have disappeared completely. Ned, Bob and Jerry joined in these hunts, eagerly searching for some clue to the mystery.
Reports from distant ranches told that there had not been any cattle losses on them of late, though no other ranch had ever been so systematically robbed as had Square Z.
And then, like a thunderclap on a pleasant day, came a change. Two cowboys, who had been sent to bring in a bunch of choice steers for shipment to Omaha, returned without them but with worried faces.
“Well?” asked the foreman. “Where are they?”
“Gone.”
“Rustlers?”
“Yep.”
“Huh!”