"How did it happen?" asked Jed. "Where's your horse? How did you come to get on this one?"
"They said I couldn't ride him," explained Will, nodding in the direction of the cattlemen, who were slowly approaching.
"I thought so," murmured John Curtin. "It was a trick of that big cowboy. He knew this was a bucking bronco, yet he let this lad mount it, knowing the beast would throw him off."
"So, that's the kind of men they are, eh?" spoke Gabe Harrison. "Then I guess the less we have to do with them the better. Jed, you look after Will a bit. Get him some water. There's a spring just ahead."
"Where are you going?" asked Mr. Hurd of the old miner, as he saw him turn back on the trail, and walk toward the cattlemen.
"I'm going to have a talk with that big cowboy," replied Gabe.
Bill Case and his chum, Tim Walsh, were laughing heartily as Gabe approached.
"It's a good joke, isn't it?" asked Gabe sternly. "I suppose you think you did a smart thing, Bill Case, when you got that tenderfoot to ride that bucking bronco."
"He sure is a tenderfoot," replied the cowboy, who did not exactly catch Gabe's sarcasm.
"He wanted to ride," put in Tim Walsh.