"No, sir, I——. Yes, I did, too. It was last night, just before we camped. I was tending to the horses and he and one of the men were talking only a few feet away and I heard him say that the Lazy S had the best bunch of cattle in the country but that they were pretty well guarded and it would be pretty risky to try to run any of them off."
"Then you don't know whether he intends to try it or not?"
"No, sir, that was all I heard him say. They moved away then and I didn't hear anything more."
"Well, you'd better stick pretty close to the ranch for a while. I fancy it would go pretty hard with you if he should get hold of you again."
"He'd kill me."
"Probably he would."
The herd of the Lazy S was grazing on what was called the lower range, about two miles from the house. Jeb called all the boys for a consultation before supper and arranged that they should guard them in two shifts, each being on duty from six to six.
"There's little doubt in my mind but what he'll have a try at 'em sooner or later," Jeb told them. "He may get away with it, but we'll make it as hard for him as we can, eh."
"Sure, an' we'll do that," Grumpy declared, and all the others were just as enthusiastic.
"The finest and most loyal bunch of men I ever had," Jeb told the boys as the men left the porch.