The day dawned bright and clear, and immediately after breakfast the boys leaped into the saddle and with good-natured shouts swung the sombreros they were wearing, and started off on their ride. Each had equipped himself with a pistol, although they expected to do no shooting, and several carried small saddlebags containing their food and drink, the latter placed in a couple of thermos bottles. They also carried feed for the horses.
“Whoop-la!” shouted Andy gaily. “Come on, fellows! let’s put distance between ourselves and the ranch.”
“Better take it a little easy at the start, Andy,” remonstrated Gif. “Remember we expect to cover quite a few miles, and we don’t want to wear out the horses at the start.”
“We’ll let Spouter set the pace,” announced Jack, for he had not forgotten that they were all guests of the lad mentioned.
They had questioned the foreman regarding the lay of the land, and he had drawn up a rough map for them which Jack carried. Inside of half an hour they reached the fording place he had mentioned, and there crossed the stream, coming out on the side of a small hill.
“I wonder if we’ll come across any wild animals,” remarked Fred, as they pushed along a well-defined trail leading to the top of the hill and through a small patch of scrub timber further westward.
“From what Joe Jackson said, I don’t think there’s very much left in this immediate vicinity,” answered Spouter. “You see, the cowboys have scared most of the animals away. Of course, they occasionally come across a bobcat or a mountain lion, and then we might come across a wolf or a fox or some jackrabbits, or even a bear.”
“Well, please don’t let ’em come at us in a bunch!” cried Randy, with a grin. “One at a time, please.”
“It’ll be our luck not to see a thing worth shooting,” declared Fred. “I wouldn’t give five cents for our chances of bringing down anything.”
Fred had scarcely spoken when the horse Gif was riding shied suddenly to one side, throwing Gif into some low bushes. Then the horse gave a snort and leaped ahead on the trail, not stopping until he had covered a hundred yards or more.