The parlor tent they found had been too badly damaged to be worth carrying along, so they left it where the bear had wrecked it.
"Heard anything from the herd?" was Tad's first question as
Mr. Simms came out to greet them.
"We certainly have. They are within three miles of here now. I have given orders to keep them clear of the ranch, and the herders are at work deflecting them to the northward. We shall bed them down about five miles from here to-night. To-morrow we will push on slowly for the grass regions up the state. I have arranged for you to remain at the ranch to-night."
"Oh, no. We prefer to go out and join the herd," objected Tad.
"We most certainly do," added Ned. "That's what we are here for."
"Have you heard anything new?" asked Tad, in a low voice, leaning from his saddle.
"Yes. I heard that the cowmen all through here are stirred up. It isn't any one man or set of men that's doing it. We have received threats from different sources if we allow the sheep to stray from our own ranch," answered Mr. Simms, with serious face.
"And you have decided——?"
"To go on."
"Hello, is this your son, Philip?" asked Tad, as a slender, pale-faced boy came toward them.