Ned lighted another match, so that all of them might see what manner of refuge had been found in this emergency. It turned out to be a fair-sized cavity, nothing unusual, but capable of answering their needs.
There was, of course, no way of blocking the entrance, but with four guns to stand guard there did not seem to be much reason to fear that the enemy could ever rush their fortress.
“But it makes me clear mad to think that while we’re cooped up here, like rats in a trap, that crowd can hunt around for our ponies and get away with the lot,” Jack complained.
At that Jimmy raised a row.
“And that’d be the last I’d see of my calico broncho, just when I was growing attached to him, too!” he bleated.
“But from what you told us,” Jack remarked, bitingly, “there was a time when you had to throw your arms around his neck in order to become attached to him. But never mind, Jimmy, the rustler that gets your Spot will be sorry for it, if I’m any judge of tricky horses. It may be the best thing that ever happened to you. Some times blessings come in disguise; and, if the pony’s stolen, it may save you from getting a broken collarbone.”
The shooting presently ceased. Whether the rustlers considered that they had accomplished the end they had in view and utterly demoralized the enemy; or, discovered the change of base on the part of the four scouts, no one was able to more than guess.
“Seems to me I can hear somebody talking close by,” Jack remarked, when some time had passed without any renewal of the bombardment.
“Get ready to repel boarders, then!” urged Harry, “for they must have discovered where we’ve crawled. Do you think they’ll try to carry the fort by assault, Ned?”
“I don’t believe so, if they’re the kind of men I take them to be,” replied the scout master. “It would take more than a dozen desperate men to get in here past the hot fire we’d start playing on them, and I reckon there isn’t that many in the bunch. No, if they do anything at all, look out for some trick.”