"There it is!" cried Dick.
"Good! I mean I'm glad we've found it!" voiced Bud. "It may be all sorts of bad luck that it's cut. For they may have figured that we'd divide forces to mend the break, and they may take this chance to rush Kid and Snake and get possession of the land."
"I don't think so," remarked Dick as he dismounted to approach the pole and look at the severed wire. "Those sheep can't travel as fast as that, and we'll have reinforcements at the fort when they try to cross Spur Creek."
"But they may send a bunch of Greasers on ahead of the woollies," objected Bud.
To this Dick did not answer. He was busy looking at the end of the dangling wire.
"Is it cut or broken?" asked Bud, for there was the possibility of an accident having happened.
"Cut," was the answer.
"What you going to do?"
"Splice it," was the answer. "That's all I can do now. I brought some extra wire along."
Not pausing to climb the pole and re-string the cut wire, which plainly showed marks of cutting pliers, Dick simply connected one severed end with the other, using a piece of copper he had brought from the shack for this purpose.