Hardly had he spoken than there was a noise among the loose rocks and boulders some distance up the gulch—in the direction the spying-out cowboy had taken.
"Here he comes!" exclaimed Bud, and his hand went to his gun, for it was very possible that Snake would be pursued, and have to retreat on the run.
However the alarm proved to be a false one, for, after waiting some time, Snake not having appeared, it was surmised that some rock had become loose and rolled down the steep side of the gulch.
The waiters and watchers were just beginning to get a bit worried, and Bud was on the point of suggesting that he be allowed to go look for Snake, when the cowboy came back.
So quietly did he approach, and so unexpected was his appearance that Nort and Dick, on whose side of the improvised "fort" Snake first showed himself, were startled.
"If that had been any of the Del Pinzo crowd they'd have been on top of us before we knew it," confessed Nort.
"Not much!" laughed Bud. "Slim has seen Snake coming along this last three minutes; haven't you, Slim?"
"Yep! I noticed him, but I didn't say anythin'," acknowledged the foreman. "I seen that he was alone. But what's the verdict, Snake?" he asked, anxiously. "Are they gittin' ready t' come at us here, or are they leavin'?"
"Neither one," was the answer, "but they're gettin' ready to do suthin! They're all in a bunch in the middle of that place, holdin' a confab, I reckon. It's hard to say what they are up to. But I got a hunch that if we rushed 'em we could throw a scare int' 'em, anyhow."
"Do you think they know we're here?" asked Bud.