Chapters 19 & 20 Summary

Chapter nineteen begins with the boys confronting their final obstacle. The fence that bounds the preserve is much sturdier than the boys had imagined. Cotton has the boys scatter half of the remaining hay to hold the herd in place while he thinks. At first he tries to have the boys break down the fence, with much the same effect as earlier when they had tried to push the camp truck up the hill. This, after all, was a fence designed to hold in a herd of buffalo. Cotton refuses to give up. Only the sight of the approaching rangers in a jeep followed by others in trucks stops him. A final, desperate plan emerges. Cotton has Teft drive away from the herd, before having the boys get out of the truck. He tells Teft to get the rifle ready and to shoot...