"They must have them hidden somewhere," said Dick. "We'd better go back to the place where the sign petered out. There must be some opening there out of the main canyon."
"If there is it's so well hid that it takes sharper eyes than I've got to find it," declared Snake, and he was noted for his far-seeing and clear vision.
"Go back!" exclaimed North impulsively. "We aren't going back, are we, until we get Del Pinzo and his gang?"
"Shoot 'em up—that's what I advise!" cried Yellin' Kid. There was a moment's pause, and Bud spoke.
"We're got two things to do," said the boy rancher. "One is to get our cattle back, and the other is to nab the rustlers. But it's more important to get the cattle, I think.
"If we don't do that our ranch experiment will be a failure," he went on. "But, of course, for the sake of other ranchers, it would be a mighty good thing if we could put Del Pinzo and his rustler crowd out of business."
"Can't we do both?" asked Nort.
"That's what I was coming to," his cousin continued. "If we can get on the trail of the hidden steers—for hidden they are, I'm sure—we can haze them back to the valley. Then we can keep on after this crowd," and he nodded toward the winding trail that led down the narrow defile.
"Then you think we'd better go back!" asked Dick.
"Let's see what Slim says" answered Bud. Naturally he would turn to his father's foreman for advice.