Scott rode straight for the cañon now. There was no one in sight and he did feel a little worried for a minute. What if they had moved those sheep in spite of Baxter? But he thought of Baxter and the three thousand sheep down at the foot of the cliff and knew that he had no reason to be nervous.
As they rode into the mouth of the cañon an astonished herder jumped from the improvised fence and stared at them wide eyed. Scott paid no attention to him, but led the others straight up to the fence. The bleating of hungry sheep had already reached them, but when Mr. Ramsey saw how many were packed inside the fence he whistled his amazement.
“We can make a little hole in this fence and count them as they go out,” Scott explained. He still felt a little grouchy about Ramsey’s attitude even when he looked at Jed’s beaten face.
“Pretty clever scheme, Jed,” the supervisor said patronizingly, “but Burton seems to have caught you at it.”
Jed stared at Scott as though he would have liked to tear him to pieces, but maintained a sullen silence.
“How many are there in there?” Ramsey asked.
“About two thousand as nearly as I could judge,” answered Baxter who had come up unnoticed.
Every one was too excited to even notice that he was a newcomer.
“Two thousand!” Mr. Ramsey exclaimed, “That is the most any one has ever tried to run in on me yet.”
“That’s not half of them,” Scott said.