"There's no doubt on that point," Mr. Oliver assured him. "I don't mind admitting that the suspense and the uncertainty as to what they might do were worrying me rather badly."
Frank was surprised to hear it, for the rancher had certainly shown no sign of uneasiness.
"You mean you're going to break up the gang once for all and corral the whole of them?" he asked.
"Something like that," answered Mr. Barclay lazily. "If there's no hitch in the proceedings, I don't expect many of them will be left at large when our traps are sprung, though the affair will have to be managed with a good deal of caution."
Harry smiled. "There oughtn't to be any hitch. You have been a mighty long while fixing up the thing."
"That remark," said Mr. Barclay, "is to some extent justified. Over in Europe they say 'slow and sure,' though I don't suppose it's a maxim that's likely to appeal to young America. We'll paraphrase it into this form: 'Don't move until you know exactly what you mean to do and how you're going to set about it, and then get at it like a battering ram.'"
"A battering ram must have been a clumsy, old-time contrivance," Harry objected.
"There are reasons for believing it could strike very hard," said his father with a smile.
"It would naturally take a long while to work the thing out," Frank broke in, addressing Mr. Barclay.
"It did," the little, stout man assented. "We had to get hold of a clue here, and another there, and follow them up as far as possible without giving anybody the least idea what we were after. It might have been more difficult if one hadn't been purposely placed in our hands a week ago."