"I should imagine there were all of five hundred of them," answered the foreman.
Tad uttered a long-drawn whistle of astonishment.
"Will--will you ever be able to separate them?" asked Ned.
"We sure will. But it means a hot afternoon"s work."
"May we help you, Mr. Stallings?" spoke up Walter.
"Yes; I shall be able to use you boys, some, I guess. It"s a wonder to me that those cows didn"t stampede our whole herd. Had it been night, our stock would have been spread over a dozen miles of territory by this time. Being day, however, our herd preferred to stay and fight the newcomers. I hope they clean up the bunch for keeps."
Pleased that they had been given a task to perform, the boys rode away, Tad and Walter going in one direction, while Ned Rector galloped off in another, that they might reach the cowmen in the shortest possible time.
The men they found sitting on their horses awaiting orders, though they understood what was in the mind of the foreman almost as well as if he had told them by word of mouth.
They found Big-foot and Lumpy Bates expressing their opinion of the mix-up in voices loud with anger. But, upon discovering the boys, the cowmen quickly checked their flow of language.
"Did you see what that--that----" bellowed Lumpy as Tad rode up to him.
"Yes; I saw it," laughed Tad.
"You think this is some kind of a joke, eh?" roared Lumpy, starting his pony toward Tad.
The boy"s smile left his face and clucking to his pony he rode slowly forward toward the angry cowpuncher, meeting the fellow"s menacing eyes unflinchingly.
"Is there anything you wish to say to me, Mr. Bates?" asked the lad calmly.
Lumpy"s emotions were almost too great for speech. He controlled himself with an effort.
"No--only this. I--I"ll forget myself some day, and clean up one of you idiotic tenderfeet."
"Perhaps you would like to begin on me, sir," said Tad steadily. "If you feel that way I should prefer to have you do that rather than to try it on any of my companions. Stacy Brown may be indiscreet, but I"d have you understand he is no idiot."
"What--what----"
"You have determined to get square with us ever since we joined out with you last night, and I knew that you and I would have to have an understanding before long. We might as well have it now, though there"s nothing of enough consequence to have a quarrel about----"
"You threaten me?"
"Nothing of the kind, Mr. Bates. I only wish to tell you that my companions are the guests of this outfit, and we propose to act like gentlemen. Every other member of the outfit, not excepting the Chinaman, has given us fine treatment. You have hung back, hoping you would have a chance to get us run off the trail."
The cowpuncher"s fingers were opening and closing convulsively.
"You--you run into me. The whole bunch had the laugh on me and----"
"If I remember correctly, it was you who ran me down. But we"ll drop that. Will you shake hands and forget your bad temper?" asked the lad, reaching over and offering a hand to the cowboy.
For an instant the fellow glared at him, then with a snarl he jerked his pony about and drove in the rowels of the spurs.
"Lumpy"s got on the grouch that won"t come off," grinned Big-foot.
"Better keep a weather eye on the cayuse. If he gets obstreperous, just you let me know."
"Thank you," smiled Tad. "I thought I had better say something to him before it went too far. I knew he meant mischief to us ever since he ran into me yesterday at San Diego."
Tad then delivered his message and rode on to the next cowpuncher.
For fully an hour the cattle surged and fought, some being killed and trampled under foot, while others were so seriously wounded that they had to be shot later in the day.
After a time the battle dwindled down to individual skirmishes, with two or three animals engaged at a time, until finally the entire herd moved off to the fresher ground that had not been trodden upon, and began grazing together as contentedly as if nothing had occurred to disturb them.
All immediate danger of a stampede having pa.s.sed, Stallings fired a shot as a signal for the cowmen to join him. This they did on the gallop.
After a conference, during which each man gave his opinion as to whom the stray herd belonged to, none recognizing the brand, Stallings made up his mind what to do.
"You will begin at the lower end and cut out as you go through the herd.
Cut the newcomers to the west, which will be starting them back toward where they came from, wherever that may be. At the same time while we cut, we will be moving our cows north, which is the direction in which we want them to go."
In the meantime Stacy Brown had ridden up. He was sitting disconsolately on his pony near where the conference was being held, having been roundly scored by every cowboy in the outfit.
The foreman motioned him to ride over to him.
"Young man, can you carry a message back to camp and get it straight!"
Stacy thought he could.
"Then go back and tell the heathen to pack up his belongings and come on. There will be no more eating done in this outfit till we have cut out that new bunch. Tell the driver to be ready to move when he sees us start. We"ll get in a few miles before dark, yet, if we have good luck."
Stacy rode away full of importance to deliver the foreman"s order.
Then the cutting out began. Cowboy after cowboy dashed into the herd coming out usually with his pony pressing against the side of an unwilling steer and pushing him along in the right direction by main force.
And here was where the Pony Riders made themselves useful. As an animal was cut out, the boys would ride in behind it and worry the steer along until they had gotten it a safe distance to the west of the main herd.
"There"s a Diamond D steer in that bunch," Tad informed one of the cowpunchers as he rushed a big, white steer out.
"Never mind; we"ll trim the mixed outfit after we get more of the bunch out," answered the cowboy, riding back into the herd.
While doing the cutting out the men also drove out the few cattle that had strayed into the herd earlier in the journey.
For three hours this grilling work had kept up, the perspiring cowboys yelling, their ponies squealing under the terrific punishment they were getting from both riders and steers.
But in the excitement of their own work, the Pony Riders had had little time in which to observe what the cowmen were doing.
Tad thought of a plan by which he might a.s.sist them further. So he galloped his pony over to the edge of the main herd and waited until the foreman dashed out with two red, fighting steers, which he gave a lively start on their way to join the mixed herd.
"Mr. Stallings, may I cut back some of the Diamond D animals in the mixed herd?" he asked.
"Think you can do it, kid?"