“Traitor!” repeated Bob and then pulled his horse’s head around and struck hard with his quirt. In a flash his little horse was flying in the direction of home. It was a desperate chance he was taking, for he had read in the faces of the two men as he turned that they were that he should not get back to the dam with his suspicions confirmed. He knew that in running he braved possible death, for he had noticed that both men were armed. The sound of his horse’s and the rushing wind drowned the noise that would have told him whether he was being pursued or not. He was bending low in the saddle and it was hard to turn and see what had become of Jerry and his companions. But he managed it.  
They were coming all right. But for the time he was holding his own and even doing a little better. They had raced their horses from the in their endeavor to catch up with him, while he had only along over the same distance. He as he realized the distance was rapidly growing greater between them.
 
“Why don’t they shoot?” he thought. Hardly had the thought flashed through his brain when a bullet whistled by him. Then came another and another.
 
“Guess I’m too far,” he thought. “Out of range!” But he guessed wrong, for a moment later his stumbled and fell. He rolled clear and staggered to his feet and started to run on. But a moment later he was jerked to earth. One of the men had roped him.
 
When his captors came up he realized that Jerry was not with them and he turned to look back over the way they had come. No Jerry was in sight. Evidently as soon as real trouble started the men had it was better for Jerry to keep out of it.
 
“Thought you’d get away, did you?” said Wesley with an ugly laugh. “Swell chance.”
 
Bob kept quiet. They tied his arms to his[196] sides with the lasso and then one of the men went over to the pony Bob had ridden and, putting a revolver to its head, fired. Bob realized that no matter how mean a citizen a cowboy might be, he would not let an animal suffer. The shot which had dismounted him had hit the pony in one of the legs and had broken it.
 
Little was said as they took Bob and him into the saddle of one of their horses. Harper got up behind him and handled the on either side of his body. He turned the horse’s head away from the trail into the low brush that here covered the ground. The other man followed.
 
Bob was not gagged. Probably his captors were certain that no matter how hard he yelled there would be no one near enough to hear. That being the case, the boy decided that it was useless to wear out his lungs. So he kept his tongue still and suffered in silence.
 
After the little procession had been going for some time, Harper began to Bob.
 
“You figgered you was goin’ to git clean away an’ dust it for the dam, huh? Goin’ to tell ’em that we-uns up here was aimin’ to play thunder with that ol’ bunch o’ that’s a-goin’ to take the bread out o’ our mouths, huh?”
 
Bob paid no attention to this outburst, letting it go past his ears. Wesley’s voice from behind took up the refrain.
 
“And, if it’ll do you any good, which it ain’t, you might know that we are not only aimin’ to up that dam down yonder, but we’re goin’ to do it, sure. It’ll all be over by the time you get back there, though, so I reckon the information won’t help you much.”
 
They both laughed.
 
“This li’l’ rooster thinkin’ he could come along up this here way an’ fool us! But Jerry’s got the hand all dealt with Miguel. The Greasers will turn the trick any night now. Then it’s good-bye ol’ dam for some time.”
 
“Yep,” boasted Harper, “an’ mebbeso we can keep a-puttin’ it off ontwell they git plum tired of tryin’ to us cowmen.”
 
“You can’t do it!” out Bob, unable to restrain himself any longer. “The Service will beat you, and don’t you forget it!&............