"I am," her father replied soberly and the smile died from her face.
"You needn't be on my account," she said quickly. "I'll be careful."
During the evening Bob and Jack were conscious that the superintendent was worried, although it was evident that he was trying to conceal it. But he was uneasy, going out of the house and coming back at short intervals.
"Poor Dad, he worries more about those cows than anything else in the world," Sue said a little before nine o'clock.
"Do you suppose there's any danger?" Jack asked.
"I expect so. Dad doesn't get all worked up for nothing."
But the night passed and nothing happened. Bob woke once during the night and fancied that he heard the murmur of voices just outside his window. He slipped quietly from the bed without disturbing his brother and crept to the window. But the sound had stopped and, although it was bright moonlight, he could see no one, and he went back to bed to fall asleep almost immediately.
At breakfast Jeb seemed more cheerful.
"To tell you the truth I expected a visit from those fellows last night," he told them. "I had the boys on the watch all night, but they didn't show up and I'm beginning to think that maybe it was only a flying visit and, perhaps, it wasn't Hains after all. Still, you'd better not get too far away from home," he cautioned them.
For three days they did not go beyond sight of the house. No further reports regarding the bandits reached the ranch and the worried look had nearly, if not quite, left Jeb's face.