"Not even a stuffed one for me!" declared Frank.
"I'd like to have those rattles though," said Sammy, looking at the nine rattles that would never sound again.
"I guess you can have them all right," replied Mr. Claxton. "Hank will cut them off and cure them for you. But come along now and get to bed. If ever you youngsters needed a good long rest you need it now."
CHAPTER XIV
OUT IN THE STORM
For a day or two after their adventure with the snake the Fairview boys felt a little jumpy. But the adventure after all had ended well, and they came before long to look back on it with satisfaction. It would sound well when they should tell it to their friends at home.
The days were passing now all too quickly. They had fallen in love with the free, breezy, open-air life they were leading, and they grudged every day that brought them nearer to the end of such a delightful vacation.
They had had their night in the cave as had been promised, and had enjoyed all the thrills that come to one under such circumstances. Their joy would have been dampened somewhat, if they had known that half a mile away, Bill Bixby and Hank Thompson were camping on the open prairie, ready to lend a hand if the boys should get into any trouble. But nobody ever told them and they enjoyed their outing to the full.
One day they started out for a long ride to a section of the ranch that they had not yet visited. The day was clear when they set forth, but Mr. Claxton was not wholly satisfied with the wind and the appearance of the sky.
"I think there's a storm brewing," he remarked, "but whether it will come before to-morrow I don't know. So you boys had better keep your weather eyes open and at the first sign of bad weather start for home."