"Are we going on now, Mr. Parry?" asked Tad.
"No; I think we may as well unpack and make camp here until to-morrow morning. Then the stock will be fresh, and so shall we."
"The stock looks to be in pretty good shape already," answered Tad.
"Yes; but they will be much better to-morrow. A day's water and feed will do wonders for them. I guess the bunch of horse-hunters made quite a hole in our fodder, didn't they?"
"There was nothing the matter with their appetites that I observed," laughed Tad. "But we've got enough to last us for some time. How long before we shall strike the range where we are to join them?"
Parry glanced off over the desert meditatively.
"If we have no bad luck we ought to make it in three days. The cowboys will get there some time to-morrow."
"One of them won't," answered Tad, confidently.
"Why not?"
"His pony is wind-broken. Didn't you hear him breathe when they rode in?"