"Let's look a little farther then," remarked Dick.
They did, but without discovering any clues. It was as though the rustlers had driven the cattle to the bottom of a rocky and bush-covered slope, and then as if the side of the hill had suddenly opened, providing a way through.
"Like some old fairy yarn!" declared Bud. "This gets me!"
"If we could only have gotten on the trail of the rascals sooner, Bud, we might have learned the secret," spoke Nort. "We ought to keep better watch!"
"How could we?" asked Bud. "We shoot off on the trail, now, as soon as we hear of anything."
"Yes, but we ought to get on the jump quicker," insisted his cousin. "If we had an airship, for instance!" and he laughed at the impracticability of his remark.
"You can see pretty nearly the whole of the valley from the top of Snake Mountain," spoke Dick, when he and Bud had joined in the laugh at Nort's airship idea. "If one of us could be up there—"
"We'd have to be there all the while!" interrupted Bud. "There's no telling when the rustlers will come. Talk about being on the watch! It's all right to say so, but how you going to work it?"
Dick suddenly uttered an exclamation.
"What's the matter?" his brother wanted to know. "See a snake?"