"What are those?" he asked. "Big stones?"
"Stones?" queried Bud and, a moment later, he exclaimed, "Those are dead cattle! Boys, I guess the jinx has come back!"
CHAPTER XI
INTO SMUGGLERS' GLEN
"Hop to it, boys!" cried Nort, as he dug his spurs lightly against the sides of his pony. The spurs were blunt ones, for Mr. Merkel insisted that his men treat their horses kindly, and the spurs were such in name only. However, even these gentle ticklers indicated to Nort's animal the need of haste and it leaped ahead.
"Come on!" echoed Dick, following his brother's example and guiding his animal toward those silent forms on the grassy hillside.
Bud, however, held his animal back and shouted to his cousins:
"Hold on a minute! Don't be rash! Hold on!"
Nort pulled his pony back so suddenly that the creature reared high in the air. Some time ago Nort would have been unseated by such a trick, but now he stuck to the saddle like a burr to a cow's tail.
"What's the matter?" Nort shot back over his shoulder.