"Who's getting into trouble now?" demanded Stacy, with mock seriousness. "You need a guardian, I guess. I presume Mr. Simms thinks so, too."
"Heard you had two black eyes," jeered Ned Rector.
"Say, Tad, we've agreed that you shall show us how you did it, using
Chunky for your model," said Walter Perkins.
Tad smiled good-naturedly, dismounting from the saddle and tethering the pony with his usual care.
"Guess I'd better leave the saddle on. There may be something doing any minute," he mused.
"Mr. Simms wants ye over to his tent," Old Hicks informed Tad.
"Oh, all right," answered the lad, walking briskly to the little tent occupied by the owner of the herd.
The foreman was there awaiting Tad's arrival as well.
"First I want to thank you for having taken Phil's part so splendidly," glowed Mr. Simms. "It is a wonder they did not do you some harm after that."
"Oh, they were not half bad," laughed Tad. "They were ashamed of what they'd done after it was all over."