Wilder and Bill by Ned.
With a great clatter of hoofs, the cowboys rode up. The Wilders
and Mr. Snider bade a hurried good-by, mounted and galloped away
into the darkness of the night, with the wishes of Mrs. Wilder and
the boys for success and a speedy return ringing in their ears.
CHAPTER XIII
OUT ON THE PLAINS
Unlike the night when the hunting party had ridden over the plains,
black clouds covered the sky, making the darkness so intense that
the riders could not see fifty feet ahead of them. But Mr. Wilder
and Nails knew the route well, so that the absence of the moon made
no great difference.
That they need not tire their mounts by hard riding, Mr. Wilder had
purposely set the start early and, with Snider on one side and Bill
on the other, he led the cavalcade, setting the pace at a slow lope.
Now and then the cowboys talked or laughed, but for the most part
they were silent, the creak of the saddle leathers and the swish of
the horses' legs as they brushed through the grass being the only
sounds to tell that a body of men were riding through the darkness.
So lonesome was the ranch house after the departure of the party
that, though they made several attempts to talk, Horace and the two
Eastern lads finally decided to go to bed, to the evident relief of
Mrs. Wilder.
But sleep did not come to Larry and Tom, and as they lay tossing
and turning, the former asked:
"Do you think that fellow they call Skinny really meant there was
any danger threatening the herd at the Witches' Pool?"
"I don't believe so," replied Tom.
Pages:
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104