“Yes, there is!” was the snapped-out reply. “I can’t be bothered with a bunch of tenderfeet around. There’s likely to be shootin’, too, and you might get in the way of a bullet.”
“We’ve been under fire before,” said Jerry, quietly. “Still——”
“Let the boys go along!” broke in the foreman. “That’s what they’re out here for—to try to help run down those thieves.”
“A lot they’ll do!” muttered Hinkee Dee.
The boys had been assigned horses as soon as they reached the ranch, and these were quickly saddled. Of Professor Snodgrass little had been seen since his arrival, as he went afield early in the morning armed with net and specimen boxes. He was in his element now.
Square Z ranch was a big one. It had the advantage of water as well as good grass, and it gave range to thousands of cattle divided into several herds which were quartered in various grass sections. When one was eaten well down the animals were moved to another to give the fodder a chance to grow again.
The bunch of cattle that had been run off the night the boys arrived had been kept on a distant part of the range. They had been moved there only a few days before, and after the cowboy guards had remained a short time they were withdrawn.
The cattle thieves, it seemed, had awaited their opportunity, and had made the raid just at the best time for them. A cowboy—one of several in charge of another herd—following up his runaway pony, had noted the missing bunch and had come in with the news.
“Well, they started off this way sure enough,” decided Hinkee Dee, when he and his helpers had made a tour of the grazing ground. The boys went with them, keeping well out of the way, however, of the assistant foreman.