“Look!” he almost shouted, and pointed away to the left, where, about a mile distant, could be seen a couple of men on horseback, driving before them a dozen or more horses and mules. “I believe that big mule a little to the side is old Bray.”
“I’m sure of it,” replied Donald. “It’s a long ways too far to see the brand, but he’s got a peculiar stride that I recognize as soon as I set eyes on him.”
“What had we better do?” queried Billie. “We’re perfect strangers here, you know.”
“I don’t care if we are,” was the emphatic response. “No thieving hypocrite can get away with my mule as long as my name is Donald Mackay. Follow me,” and, putting spurs to Wireless, he dashed off in the direction of the drove, closely followed by Billie.
From the direction in which the men were driving the animals it was very evident they were headed for the mountains, some seven or eight miles away, and it was plain to the boys that, if they ever expected to get old Bray, they would have to overtake the drove before it reached the foothills. A small stream flowed across the plain and emptied into the Concho some miles farther west, and it was necessary for the men with the drove to cross this stream before they could make a direct line for the place they wished.
The boys were unfamiliar with the lay of the land, but they made up their mind that they could cross the stream higher up and thus get between the men and the mountains. They did not know that the only ford was the one toward which the men were driving the horses, and accordingly, instead
of following the direct trail, they struck off diagonally across the plain.
The men saw the boys as soon as they appeared upon the scene, and immediately put the drove on a full run for the ford.
While the stream toward which both the pursued and the pursuers were heading was not a large one, it was quite a torrent because of the heavy rains of the past two or three days—the rainy season having already begun. The natives were well aware of this, and thought it impossible for anyone to cross it except at the ford in question. Being fully a mile in advance, they had no fear of being overtaken, as they felt certain that when the boys reached the river they would have to turn down stream for more than half a mile before they could cross. This would give the thieves another good mile the advantage.
Wireless and Jupiter seemed to know what was expected of them, and fairly flew over the ground. The natives were also well mounted, and the chase would have been a fruitless one, had conditions been as they supposed. But they did not know the kind of boys they had to deal with, nor the mettle of the horses they rode.