"Not at all in the Summer time," replied the ranchman. "Sometimes during a hard Winter they get desperate and come around trying to get a calf out of the herd. But they don't succeed very often at that. The old bulls form a circle around the herd and catch the wolves on their horns when they try to get through. But in the Summer the nearest thing we have to the wolf is a coyote. But he's a cowardly brute and jumps at the sight of his own shadow."
"Are there any Indians out this way that ever go on the warpath?" asked Bob.
"Hardly," grinned Mr. Claxton. "The only Indians we ever see in these parts are those that hang around the saloons in the towns doing odd jobs for the sake of a drink."
It was not a very dignified picture of the noble red man, and the boys sighed in spirit. Hank Blair's hope that they would bring him a scalp seemed very far from being realized.
"Do the Chinese ever give you any trouble?" asked Sammy, desperately. If this hope failed him where was he to find material for the gallant exploits with which he hoped to dazzle the boys of Fairview?
This time Mr. Claxton laughed outright.
"The only trouble I have with them," he said, "is that sometimes the men get to teasing and browbeating Tom Lee and I have to stop it for the sake of fair play."
"I thought some of them were highbinders," said Sammy, feebly.
"I suppose there are some of that kind," assented Mr. Claxton with a careless nod; "but they stick pretty closely to the big cities, like Sacramento and San Francisco, and we never have to worry about them out here."
"I suppose you have rattlesnakes out here?" said Bob.