But the announcement of the two thousand dollars reward turned this eagerness into frantic endeavor.
Yelling and shouting to one another, the cowboys raced hither and thither, trying to catch their ponies which had dashed terror-stricken from the burning corral.
“Hadn’t we better send some of the men to the cattle yard, to prevent the raiders lifting any of the critturs?” asked Sandy, coming close to his master.
The corral into which Hawks’ boys had driven the steers was so situated, however, that the light from the flames enabled the men to see three sides of the barbed-wire fence, while back of the fourth, the flare lighted the plains.
And as they strained their eyes, no human form could they see except the white spectre.
“Man, dear! he’s stopped and is watching his work!” cried Deadshot.
Instantly the eyes of the ranchmen and several of the cowboys, who were near enough to hear the words, followed the direction of their companion’s pointing finger.
There, as calm as though he were watching some cowpuncher frolic, sat the white figure upon his horse.
“Skulls and crossbones! don’t you suppose there are any more of the raiders?” queried Sandy, suddenly.
“Reckon that’s all,” grunted Ki Yi. “If there had been more of ’em, we would have been told by a few bullets.”