"Sure!" cried half a score of cowboys, their hands going to their guns.
"We'll revenge Bud, too!" exclaimed Dick.
"That's the talk!" shouted Yellin' Kid. "Let's get at these hombres an' chase 'em out of the country!"
Eager and excited, angry, and justly so, the crowd was ready for anything. They would have rushed at once into the defile but that Billee Dobb held up a restraining hand.
"We want to go at this thing calm and cautious like," he said. "We want either to catch these scamps or drive 'em out. At the same time we want to find out what their game is."
"That's right," agreed Bud. "The more I think of it the more I'm sure I didn't dream I saw 'em digging something out of the sides of the cave. They really did it."
"Diamonds, maybe!" exclaimed Snake, eagerly.
"Be yourself, boy!" chuckled Yellin' Kid. "Diamonds don't grow out here."
"All right—have it your way," mildly assented Snake.
"So it would be a good thing to see what these birds were up to," went on Bud. "I'm still so sort of knocked out that I can't do much. I've got to get back and rest up. But if you boys want to go back up there and see what you can find, and do, I'm willing."