"Rustlers again! By and by we'll have all there are in Wyoming swarming about this house."
"No; Budd visited them, and found they were cattlemen on the hunt for rustlers. Had he known of Inman's party out here he would have given them a pointer, but of course he doesn't dream of anything of the kind. Now, the mistake I made is this: When I saw the horsemen gathered about the buildings and ridge, I ought to have wheeled and ridden as hard as I could to the stockmen. They would have been here before night and wound up this business in a jiffy. But I kept on and rode right into the trap set for me, and can do nothing."
No one could question the justice of Whitney's self-condemnation, but there was no help for it.
"How is it you were allowed to join us?" asked Capt. Asbury.
"I am here under parole; you see they took my horse, rifle and pistols from me. I would not have been allowed to come to you except upon my pledge to return within fifteen minutes."
"And what will they do with you, my boy?" asked his mother, alarmed by the information.
"Nothing, so long as I remain a model prisoner; but how are you fixed for defence?"
He was quickly made acquainted with the situation of affairs.
"Ah," he added, with a sigh, "if there was some way of getting word to the stockmen; but I see none."
"They will not be likely to give you a chance?"