“Aren’t you going with them?” asked Tom.

“No,” returned Horace.  “We are liable to get hurt, it’s so dark.  We couldn’t see anything if we did go.  Besides, father may have some orders to give us.”

The only instructions Mr. Wilder had to give, however, were to be careful not to do anything that would cause his wife to worry about them.

“Suppose the herd gets in trouble, what shall we do?” persisted Horace, on whose excited mind the words of the Three Stars’ cowboy had made a lasting impression.

“Use your own judgment.  But don’t let your imagination play tricks on you.  The cattle will be all right—­unless you get them restless.”

“Oh, we won’t do that,” quickly declared Larry.  “We’ll take such good care of them, you will want to hire us as cowboys when you get back.”

The shouts from the corral told the ranchmen that the time for the start had arrived, and quickly they made themselves ready, while Hop Joy appeared to say he had sent saddle bags with food for Mr. 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.  “I suppose there is always the chance that a lot of things may happen to a big herd like that.  Some of them might try to wander away or they might get frightened and stampede.  I read about a stampede once where the cattle ran right over the edge of a cliff.”