HERBERT WATROUS was dumbfounded. He had stolen up the ravine and spent some time in studying the campfire and the two strangers, and now, on his return to where his pony had been tied, the animal was gone. While he was acting the spy, the same trick had been successfully played on him.

But he roused quickly, and running a few steps in the direction of the retreating horse and his captor, called:

“Stop, or I’ll shoot! You can’t steal my animal!”

It was an idle threat, for, in the gloom, he only knew the direction taken by the man and beast, and his shot, therefore, must have been at random.

“Shoot if you want to,” was the defiant reply; “but the flash of your gun will give us the show to drop you!”

[177]

Surely he had heard that voice before.

“Strubell, is that you?” he called, still hurrying forward, but with his weapon lowered.

Two persons now laughed, and the well-known tones of the Texan called back:

“You’ll have to practise a while, young man, before you learn how to trail Indians and horse thieves.”

Delighted beyond measure, Herbert quickly joined the friends, whom he had hardly expected to meet again.

“I was afraid you were killed,” said he, “and had no idea you were near me. Where did you come from?”

“We have been following you most of the day,” said Strubell, “but your horse went so fast we couldn’t overtake you, and, when you slowed him down, we concluded to let you go ahead, while we learned what you were driving at.”

“When you are at this business,” added Lattin, “you want to keep an eye to the rear as well as to the front.”

The Texans had their own ponies with them,[178] and, so far as could be judged in the gloom, were suffering no ill effect from their sharp brush with their enemies the night before.

“Why did you take my horse?” asked Herbert.

“We wanted to give you a little scare, but you came back sooner than we expected. I followed after you, and, while you were viewing the camp fire, I did the same. I walked in front of you on the return, but your Jill was tied so fast that it took me longer than I expected to unfasten him.”

“Did you see Belden at the camp up the ravine?”

“No; and you didn’t either, for he isn’t there.”

“Who are those fellows?”

“One is Jim-John the half breed, and the other a fellow named Brindage—Homer Brindage, I believe.”

“They belong to Rickard’s gang?”

“Yes—two worse scamps never went unhanged; I was afraid you were going forward to talk with them, and stood ready to stop you, if you made the start.”

[179]

“Why, that’s exactly what I would have done, if Nick had been with them,” said the surprised Herbert; “would they have harmed me?”

“You would have found out mighty sudden; they are the kind that shoot first, and inquire afterward whether there was any reason for their haste.”

While the brief conversation was going on, Strubell remounted his horse and the lad did the same. Lattin had been in the saddle from the first.

“You had a fight with them last night?”

“How did you know that?” asked Lattin.

“I heard the sounds of your guns as well as theirs.”

“I guess not,” replied the Texan, “we didn’t have any scrimmage with them.”

“But there was plenty of firing.”

“Nobody denies that, but I’m tellin’ you the truth, when I say we haven’t traded a single shot with Bell Rickard or any of his men.”

Since the Texan had made this remark, Herbert expected he would follow it with an[180] explanation of the previous night’s experience. He did not deny that there had been a fight, only that Rickard and his men were not in it. With whom, therefore, were their shots exchanged?

Both Strubell and Lattin showed the same annoying reticence about certain matters that they had displayed more than once before. Neither offered a reply to the question that was asked by Herbert’s expressive silence, which lasted for some moments.

A touch of impatience disturbed the youth. He felt like Nick when similarly annoyed. If they chose to affect so much mystery, he was not the one to gratify them by showing curiosity.

But a more important subject filled his mind. The fate of Nick Ribsam outweighed everything else, and on that he was not to be denied all the information they could furnish. Their help was needed and that............