"I'm sure of it," declared Sam.
"Wa'al, mebby you're right," conceded the veteran cowboy. "What say, fellows?" and he appealed to Bud and the others.
"I say let's stay here for th' night," decided Yellin' Kid. "As Sam says, we can make better time in th' mornin'. Th' rustlers can't drive cattle only so fast, anyhow."
"Unless they stampede 'em," put in Bud.
"That's what they did t' get away from where we had 'em pastured," declared Sam. "But if they get 'em that wild now the animals is likely t' break away, an' that isn't what this bunch of Greasers is countin' on."
"I guess you're right," admitted Bud. "It's about a fifty-fifty proposition, and we'd better wait here over night."
This decided, little time was lost in taking saddles from the horses and turning them into the corral, while their riders made ready to wash up, prepare for the evening meal and rest.
As Snake Purdee turned his pony in and hung the saddle over the fence he noticed a small enclosure in one corner of the corral, in which were two rather sorry-looking specimens of horseflesh.
"What you got there, Sam?" he asked, nodding toward the two sequestered steeds.
"Oh, couple a' outlaws," was the answer.