"I don't like this disappearance on Bud's part," said Nort, as they rode along.
"Is it a disappearance?" asked Dick, pointedly.
"What else is it? He hasn't come back."
To this Dick returned no answer, but there were anxious looks on the faces of the boy ranchers as they urged their ponies forward.
CHAPTER XV
THE SEARCH
Pleasant enough it was, riding over the sunlit, undulating broad stretches of the range, and Dick and Nort would have thoroughly enjoyed it had it not been for the nature of their errand. Had Bud been with them they would probably have "whooped it up" with joyous, care-free exuberance. But now they were rather solemn, not to say glum.
Dick, noticing that his brother rode along with his eyes bent on the ground just ahead of the pony, inquired:
"What are you looking for—lost something?"
"No. But I was thinking about the possibility of poison weed and I thought maybe I could spot it before anything happened."