“Don’t worry about Flash!” Teddy exclaimed. “He could stand on the side of a house. Well, what’s the news? Are we going to take old Needleback home with us?”
“Sure! Wrap him in—” Roy stopped suddenly. He tilted his head forward in a listening attitude.
“Thunder,” Teddy remarked. “I heard it, too. Come on, let’s be on our way. Never mind the porcupine.” He walked over to Flash and rested his hand on the pommel of the saddle. As he did so the rolling noise was repeated, this time much louder.
“Thunder nothing!” Roy cried. “There’s not a cloud in the sky. That’s up the mountain some place.”
“Well, whatever it is, I don’t like the sound of it!” came from Teddy, as he vaulted into the saddle. “Makes my flesh creep. I’m tired, I guess. We’ve been riding ever since early morning. That’s the longest stretch I’ve been on a horse since that night we chased the rustlers all over creation. Baby, that was some time! Wonder what happened to the three men who got away?”
“Oh, I suppose they left the country,” Roy answered, as he guided his bronco down the steep trail. “Birds like that don’t linger long in one place, especially when they know that place isn’t healthy for them. The four we put in jail are there for a good stretch, I hope—though that jail in Hawley isn’t any too strong.”
“You said it! Well, if they escape, they escape, that’s all. But they’d better not try any more funny work around here. Dad’ll salivate ’em. Jimminy! I wonder what that noise was that we heard. It’s got me kind of leery.”
“Rocks falling, most likely. Don’t know what else it could be. I know it isn’t thunder. Come on, get a wiggle on. Be dark soon. Watch your step, this footing isn’t any too good.”
Keeping firm hands on the reins, the two ranch boys proceeded down the mountain side. The ground was covered with a loose shale, and the mountain on this side was nearly devoid of trees. It would not do to urge the horses to a faster gait than they naturally took, for a fall here meant a nasty slide.
“I hear Nell and Ethel are going to stay at the 8 X 8 most of this coming winter,” Roy remarked casually, as he guided Star around a large rock. He referred to two New York girls with whom the brothers had become acquainted some time before.