"I hear there are some lawless characters in there, too," Tad answered thoughtfully.
"Where'd your hear that?" demanded Ned.
"Heard some men talking about it in the hotel back at Forsythe."
"Mustn't believe all you hear. What did they say?"
"Acting upon your advice, I should say that you wouldn't believe it if I told you," answered Tad sharply. "These men are a kind of outlaws, I believe. They steal horses and cattle. Probably sell the hides—I don't know. Somehow the Government officers have not been able to catch them, let alone to find out who they are."
"Indians, probably," replied Ned. "The country is full of them about here, so I hear."
"Mustn't believe all you hear," piped up Stacy, repeating Ned Rector's own words, and the latter's muttered reply was lost in the laughter that followed.
It was close to twelve o'clock when they finally emerged on a broad table or mesa. Before them lay the foothills of the Rosebud, rising in broken mounds, some of which towered almost level with the lower peaks of the mountains themselves.
"I don't see anything of our guide's cabin," said Tad, halting and looking about them. "What do you think, Professor!"
"We will go on to the foothills and wait there. I imagine he will be waiting for us somewhere hereabouts."