"Stop!" he ordered. "You cannot take those horses. We will shoot you both if you attempt it!"
"The Winthrop youngsters," muttered Darry Nodley. "How did they find their way here?"
He attempted to move on, thinking Mangle would follow. But now Chet barred the way.
The ranch boy had his gun up to his shoulder and there was a determined look on his sunburnt face. He was fighting for Rush as much as for anything else.
"Get down!" was all he said, but the tone in which the words were uttered left no room for argument.
Darry Nodley hesitated and thought at first to feel for his own gun. But then he changed his mind. He saw that Chet was thoroughly aroused, and saw, too, that Jack Blowfen was coming up.
"We'll have to make tracks," he cried to Saul Mangle, and leaped to the ground, putting the horse between himself and Chet, and ran for the bushes.
In the meantime Paul and Saul Mangle were having a hand-to-hand fight. The boy fought well, and the wounded man had all he could do to defend himself. Finally he went limping after Nodley, but not before Paul had relieved him of his gun. The brave lad could have shot the thief with ease, but could not bring himself to take the risk of killing his antagonist.
"Where are they?" roared Jack Blowfen, coming up. "Which way did they go?"
Paul pointed in the direction. At once Blowfen ran off. In another second Chet and Paul were left alone with the horses. The sounds from the distance told them that Saul Mangle and Darry Nodley were doing their best to escape from the neighborhood.