"Where are we going to be?"
"He hasn"t said. I did hear him say that we were going to watch singly instead of in pairs, in order that he might cover more territory with the men at his disposal."
"Sounds shivery."
"I don"t know why it should. It is night, that is the only difference. I am getting used to being out in the night and not knowing where I am," laughed Tad.
Tucking the lunches that had been wrapped for them into their pockets, the two boys walked over to the place where their ponies were tethered. The animals had been left bridled and saddled, the saddle girths having been loosened. These the boys tightened and prepared to mount when Tad happened to think of something.
"Hold my pony, Ned. I want to get something from the tent."
Tad returned a moment later with his lariat, which he coiled carefully and hung to the saddle horn, Ned Rector observing him with an amused smile.
"If you can"t shoot them you"re going to rope them, eh?"
"A rope is always a good thing to have with you. You don"t think so, but it is. Never know what minute you are going to need it badly."
"It wouldn"t do me any good, no matter how much I needed it," smiled Ned. "I couldn"t la.s.so the side of a barn."
"You do very well. If you will practise every day you will be able to handle it as well as the average cowboy in less than a week.
Come along."
As they left the camp, Luke Larue met them to conduct the boys to the places where they were to spend the last half of the night.
"After we leave the herd behind us, it"s the frozen tongue for you,"
he said.
"You mean we are not to speak?" asked Tad.
"Not a word out loud. If you have anything you must say, whisper."
"Oh, all right."
They dropped Ned first. His station was nearer to the herd than that which had been a.s.signed to Tad. The latter went on with the foreman until they were fairly out by the foothills.
"I"ve given you one of the most responsible stations, you see,"
whispered the foreman. "It will be lonesome out here. Do you mind?"
"Not at all. Anybody near me?"
"Noisy Cooper is over there to your left about ten rods away. Bat Coyne is to your right here. You"re not so close that you can rub elbows, however. Be watchful. It"s just the night for a raid. Use your own judgment in case you hear anything suspicious. Above all look out for yourself. You"ve got a pony that will take you away from trouble pretty fast if you get in a hurry. You know the signal?"
"Yes."
"Then good night and good luck," whispered Luke, reaching out and giving Tad"s hand a hearty clasp.
There was something so encouraging--so confident in the grip, that even had Tad Butler"s courage been waning, it would have come back to him with a rush after that.
"Good night," he breathed. "I"ll be on the spot if anything occurs."
"I know that," answered the foreman. In an instant Luke had been swallowed up in the great shadow and not even the hoof beats of his pony were audible to the listening ears of the boy.
Tad looked about him inquiringly. As his eyes became more used to the darkness he found himself able to make out objects about him, though the darkness distorted them into strange shapes.
"I think I"ll get under that tree," he decided. "No one can see me there. They"d pick me out here in a minute. The cowboys have eyes as well as ears. I know that, for I"ve lived with them."
The lad tightened on the reins ever so little, and the pony p.r.i.c.king up its ears moved away with scarcely a sound, as if realizing that extreme caution were expected of it.
They pulled up under the shadow of the tree. There, Tad found that he could see what lay about him even better than before.
He patted Pink-eye on the neck and a swish of the animal"s tail told him that the little attention was appreciated.
"Good boy," soothed the lad, running his fingers through the mane, straightening out a kink here and there.
He had dropped the reins as he finished with the mane, and Pink-eye"s head began to droop until his nose was almost on the ground. He had settled himself for the long vigil. Perhaps he would go to sleep in a few moments. The rider hoped he would, for then there would be no movement that a stranger might hear.
It was a lonesome post. There was scarcely a sound, though now and then a bird twittered somewhere in the foliage and once he beard the mournful hoot of an owl far away to his left.
"I wonder if that could have been a signal, or was it a real bird,"
whispered Tad to himself. "I have heard of a certain band of outlaws that always used the hoot of the owl as their signal to each other."
After an interval of perhaps a minute another owl wailed out its weird cry off to his right.
Tad Butler p.r.i.c.ked up his ears.
"Well, if it isn"t a signal, those owls are holding a regular wireless conversation. Hark!"
Far back in the foothills there sounded another similar call.
Tad Butler was sure, by this time, that something was going on that would bear watching.
For a long time he heard nothing more, and was beginning to think that perhaps he had drawn on his imagination too far. It might be owls after all.
"I wonder if the others heard that, too? Maybe they know better than I what it means, if it means anything at all. I wish Mr. Larue would happen along now. I"d like to tell him what I think."
He knew, however, that the foreman, like himself was stationed somewhere off there in the blackness, sitting on his pony as immovable as a statue, his straining eyes peering into the night, his ears keyed to catch the slightest sound.
A gentle breeze rippled over the trees, stirring the foliage into a soft murmur. Then the breeze pa.s.sed on and silence once more settled over the scene.
Tad sighed. Even a little wind was a welcome break in the monotony. He was not afraid, but his nerves were on edge by this time, and Tad made no attempt to deny it.
Something snapped to the left of him. The sound was as if some one had stepped on a dry branch which had crumpled under his weight.
The lad was all attention instantly.
"There certainly is something over there," he whispered. "It may be a man, but I"ll bet it"s a bear or some other animal. If it"s a bear, first thing I know Pink-eye will bolt and then I"ll be in a fix."
Tad cautiously gathered up the reins, using care not to disturb the pony, for it was all important that the animal remain absolutely quiet just now.