What silver could be got
out, Vasquez has taken. He was planning to use the money from the
cattle captured in the raid to buy machinery and begin work."
Disappointed to think they would not be able to pick up chunks of
the ore, the comrades lapsed into silence till Tom suddenly
bethought him of the men he had seen crossing the cliff on the
night of their hunting trip, and he lost no time in asking if they
were some of Megget's gang.
"Must have been Gus and the boys who were with him up in Oklahoma,"
declared the guide. "There's a trail from that direction to the
mine. Now you mention it, I remember he spoke of having seen a
party of horsemen. It's a good thing for you he didn't know who it
was. If he had, he was so angry at your outwitting him that he
would surely have made trouble."
Further questioning, however, was prevented by the arrival of the
troop at the trail.
"There are my marks," exclaimed the younger of the chums, pointing
to the branches he had broken. But no one paid him heed, for with
the arrival at the hills the serious work began and the ranchmen
were busy issuing instructions.
CHAPTER XXIV
CAPTURING THE CATTLE THIEVES
As they wound in and out among the hills and rocks, now ascending,
now going down steep pitches, the silence of their surroundings and
the realization that they were bent on a dangerous mission sobered
the boys and few words did they speak.
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