The horseman was only about one hundred yards away, and as he caught sight of the rifles pointed toward him he pulled his pony to its haunches.
"Throw up your hands!" yelled Horace. "If you make a move, we"ll drop you. You are a prisoner of the Half-Moon Ranch!"
As the horseman heard the name he shouted:
"Steady, there! I"m Jim Jeffreys. What are you up to, anyhow?"
"Who"s Jim Jeffreys?" demanded Larry of Horace.
"He"s one of our neighbors, if it"s him."
"Well, don"t you know? Can"t you recognize him?"
Having recovered from his fright, the boy stared at the man who had caused it and then announced:
"Yes, it is Jim."
"It"s a pity you couldn"t have recognized him before!" snapped Tom as he and his brother lowered their rifles.
CHAPTER XVI
WHAT JEFFREYS KNEW
Jeffreys, as soon as he understood his ident.i.ty had been established, leaped his pony toward the boys and was soon beside them.
"You are a fine lot to be packing rifles!" he snorted, his anger rising as the danger pa.s.sed. "You may think it"s a good joke to cover anybody you meet on the plains, but some one may turn the joke on you by firing before you get your aim. You aren"t what you call "quick on the trigger.""
"Which is fortunate for you--in this case," declared Larry, resenting the manner and tone of the stranger.
The sight of the two serious-faced boys, whose eyes showed them to be keen and alert, brought Jeffreys to his senses.
"I reckon you"re right," he exclaimed. "But what"s up, Horace? If you and your friends are out for a little excitement, just take my tip and turn your attention to jumping a coyote or you may----"
"We are not after excitement," retorted the boy from the Half-Moon Ranch. "We don"t have to go looking for it. We"ve got all we want. Some of Megget"s gang have raided our herd."
"No? It must have been them I saw over near the hills early this morning."
"Where were they?" "Which way were they going?" "How many were there of them?" demanded the lads, each one asking a question.
"It was just after sun-up. I was too far away to recognize the cattle, but I counted four men. As they only had about fifty head with "em, I sort of suspected something was wrong, so I got out of sight before they could see me. Leastways, if they did, they didn"t make any move to get me."
"Where have you been?"
"I"ve been up in the hills for a few days prospecting."
"Did you find the mine?" inquired Tom, forgetting the raid and pursuit in his eagerness to learn about the Lost Lode.
"No, I didn"t. I just learned another trail, which isn"t the right one."
Larry, however, was more interested in the cattle thieves and brought the conversation back to them.
"Were the men near the hills when you saw them?" he asked.
"About a quarter of a mile away."
"Then come on. We must get to the hills so we can find their trail," declared Horace.
"You kids sure ain"t going after "em alone?" exclaimed Jeffreys incredulously.
"But if there are only four of them?"
"To you three, and they are men, don"t forget that."
"But you"ll make four," suggested Tom.
"Providing I was going with you, which I ain"t, I"d like to, but I reckon I"d better ride back to my own ranch and see they haven"t lifted any of my cattle. If they have, I"ll get my boys and take up the trail."
Realizing from the expressions on their faces that the lads were surprised as well as disappointed at his refusal to accompany them, the horseman said:
"You all just take my advice and don"t try to follow those raiders into the mountains. What you want to do is to find Wilder and Snider as quick as you can, providing you won"t go back to your ranch, where you ought to be."
"Which you can bet your whole outfit we won"t!" snapped Horace.
"We started on this chase and we"re going to stay on it."
Jeffreys smiled at the determined manner of the young rancher,
"Then join your father as soon as you can. Don"t try any fool stunt like going into the mountains. Remember, when you are on the prairie you can sec on all sides of you."
"Except when you"re behind a crest," chuckled Tom.
At this reference to the recent contretemps Jeffreys frowned, started to say something and instead dug his spurs into his pony, galloping away without even so much as looking back.
"He"s a fine neighbor--not," declared Larry as the trio resumed their way. "I should have thought he would be only too glad to help your father and Mr. Snider get back their cattle."
"He isn"t very keen for the Half-Moon," rejoined Horace. "Father beat him in a law case over a boundary line once and he"s never forgotten it."
"And I reckon he won"t forget his meeting with us to-day," said Tom, grinning.
At the memory of the reception they had given, Jeffreys the comrades had a hearty laugh.
"Still, he gave us some good advice," a.s.serted Larry. "I agree with him that the thing for us is to find the Half-Moon and Three Stars crowd as soon as we can."
"Which seems to be a pretty big order in itself," mused Tom. "I say we go and see where they drove the cattle into the hills and then decide."
This suggestion met with no opposition, and as the boys rode toward the mountains, the wooded sides of which looked inviting because of the relief they promised from the torrid heat of the plains, they discussed various plans, only to discard them.