"Not yet!" returned Jennings, with an emphasis that was significant. "And there's a bullet waiting for the man who betrays the secret signals of the Mounted Scouts. It's a part of our unwritten code. You'll find, kiddo, after you've served a bit, that there's more in our unwritten rules than in the ones the colonel beat into your noddle."
"But, how can I learn them?" the youngster inquired, his eagerness to master the mysteries of his calling evident in his voice.
"By keeping your eyes and ears open when you're on patrol," replied Shaw.
During the latter part of this conversation, the trio had made their way, for a second time, down to the plateau, whence their horses had been spirited away.
And, as Shaw had predicted, the sunlight enabled them to learn the manner of their silent departure.
Dropping to his knees with a sudden exclamation, the veteran studied intently for a few minutes the ground surrounding a spot where the shoe prints showed where one of the horses had stood, then got up, a look of utter disgust on his face.
"Say, Jennings, you and me ought to go back to the 'rookie' school," he snorted. "Red worked the old game of binding the hoofs in rags, and here we never thought of it."
Without reply, the other veteran scanned the marks discovered by his fellow, evincing his confirmation by a corroborative nod of his head as he rose to his feet.
But his next move showed that he did not take the trick calmly.
"You may have caught us napping this time, Red Rogers!" he hissed, shaking his fist menacingly. "But, before Andy Jennings is through with you, you'll wish you'd never lifted his pony!"