“We’re going to have a showdown with Nels Anderson,” said Joe grimly. “We’re going to get those cattle back even if we have to do it with gunpowder!”
Chapter Fifteen
Dangerous Hours
“See that you’re well heeled,” admonished the fiery foreman of the Box B as he hurried into the bunkhouse to strap on an extra revolver.
Slim made sure that his saddle was well cinched for they would be riding fast and hard.
Just before they started, Walt Kelly and Chuck rode in from the south. They were speedily informed that Box B cattle had been driven into Double O territory and that the Box B was determined to have none of that. They joined the raiding party with a whoop and all five riders set out at full speed for the north range, leaving a startled Lee Wu to guard the home place and his wounded boss.
“How many do you think were driven onto the Double O?” asked Joe as they galloped northward.
“I’d say about forty head,” replied Slim, “and from what I saw of them yesterday, they were all prime beef.”
“That’s just the kind of cattle we’ve been losing right along, prime stuff that knocks the bottom out of our pocketbook. If this keeps on much longer, we won’t have anything left to ship this fall. I never figured old man Anderson would stoop to rustling our stuff, but it looks like we have the goods on him.”
The little cavalcade whirled northward, a trail of dust mounting in its wake and hanging in the still afternoon air.
They topped a slope and looked down on the Double O range. A little more than a mile away they could see a few cattle grazing.