"We made a fine mess of it that time, Lanky," he observed, when it was found that no bones had been broken by his nasty fall.
"Huh! didn't move quick enough! A matter of ten seconds; but that was plenty to queer the game, all right."
"He meant to stampede the whole bunch of ponies, looked like to me," Frank Allen remarked. "I wish we knew just what his scheme was, hanging around here and taking such big risks."
"I'm still thinking he wanted to have a try for that paper," affirmed Lanky doggedly, "and when he found he hadn't a ghost of a chance to lay his paws on the same, why, he got mad, and reckoned he'd have the laugh on our outfit by stampeding the range ponies."
The two boys made their way to the house, followed by Charlie Gin Sing. Here they found Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, as well as Minnie Cuthbert and Paul Bird, up and partly dressed, they having been aroused by the unusual clamor, and more than curious to understand what it all meant.
"No sleep for me with all this stuff going on," announced Lanky, as he sat before the resurrected fire in the big living room. "I mean to stay right here till the cows come home—I mean the cowboys—and have a close-up look at that skunk, if they overtake him."
None of the others evinced any desire to seek their beds; so half an hour afterwards when they heard the riders talking and laughing over by the corral both Lanky and Frank went out to learn what the result of the chase was.
"Shucks, he got clean away!" Lanky ejaculated, after hearing what some of the men had to say.