Yet no sooner had he risen than a command rang out:
"Throw up your hands!"
The two brothers, ignorant of their companion's action, gasped at
the words. But Horace let out a whoop of joy.
"Hooray! It's father and the boys," he cried so loud that
instantly a dozen figures bounded from about the fire.
"Well, if it ain't them kids!" ejaculated Pete, who had been on
guard. "It's lucky you recognized my voice, Horace."
By this time Tom and Larry had straightened up and all three were
hastening toward the camp fire, thinking only of their good fortune
in finding their friends.
"Horace, what does this mean?" demanded his father sternly. "I
told you to stay at home, and yet we haven't been gone but
twenty-four hours and you come tagging along."
But the severity of his father did not dismay the young rancher.
Looking straight at him, the boy hastily told of the ride to the
pool and the discovery that more cattle had been driven away.
The information excited the cowboys greatly, and emphatic were
their opinions of the daring of the thieves in making another raid
and within a few hours after the men pursuing them had set out.
"They probably were watching us all the time," asserted the owner
of the Three Stars.
"Probably," agreed Mr. Wilder. "But what have you boys been doing
since you learned of the raid? You could almost walk your ponies
from the pool to here in all this time.
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