CHAPTER IX.
BOWSER DISCIPLINES HIS FOREMAN.
At the first crack of the rifles, Bowser and Hawks had dashed after their two cowpunchers with the other members of their outfits at their heels.
“Get him! Get him!” shouted the former.
“Don’t go too far!” cautioned Sandy. “This may be the very trick to get us out of the way, so the raiders can dash from the corral.”
“But there are no raiders in there, you fool!” retorted Hawks. “Keep your mouth shut, and see if you can’t do something!”
Sweet, indeed, were these words to the other cowpunchers, who had been prevented from adopting the ideas of Deadshot and Ki Yi and running down the raider, when they could see him by the foreman’s overdeveloped sense of caution. But, beyond chuckling to themselves, they gave no outward sign of their pleasure.
Leaning far over their ponies’ necks, the men rode, searching out the plains in their effort to locate either their pals or the lone horseman. For they realized that unless they exerted the greatest care, they might, in their excitement, mistake their friends for the raider.
Mindful of this danger, and determined not to allow any more untoward incidents to mark the pursuit of the man who had tricked him and lifted his cattle, Bowser shouted:
“Nobody fire till after we’ve picked up Deadshot and Ki Yi. It would be just our luck to hit one of them instead of the cow thief.”