Ned frowned and looked even more serious. "Then it begins to look as though this messenger pigeon might have been freed from somewhere about your uncle's ranch, Harry, and was making for its coop when the hawk killed it. You know they've been known to fly hundreds and hundreds of miles, even from New York to Pittsburgh, and arrive safe, tired, and half-starved after a couple of days." "It always did beat my time how they did it," said Jack, "though what you say is true, every word of it, Ned. But what is there so stunning about the fact of this bird having been set loose at the ranch? Some puncher may be a homing pigeon fancier and sends a bird to his home, many miles away, once in so often. It would be a great little stunt, I should think." "Yes, ditto here," added Harry, "so tell us why you think it's queer, Ned." "On account of the message," replied the scout master. "Well, we don't know what that is, so read it out!" urged Jack. "All right, I will," Ned told them, and then glancing down once more at the thin piece of paper he held he continued: "'Some talk of both bosses going to W. soon. Be ready to act. Will let you know in time! Chances good for big sweep! We count five!'" "Glory hallelujah! what's all that patter mean?" gasped Jimmy, who seemed unable to make head or tail out of the communication. Jack and Harry, however, realized that Ned was about right when he said it looked as though there might be more in the message than appeared on the bare face. "You notice that it says _two_ bosses, don't you?" asked Ned. "Yes, and that must refer to my two uncles, Colonel Job Haines and James Henshaw?" Harry suggested. "What does the W mean?" asked Jack. "I think that must be a town on the railroad, where they ship the cattle in season," replied Ned. "'Be ready to act,' it goes on to say," Jack continued, "which would make it appear as though the writer knew there was some sort of a raid contemplated." "A raid!" echoed Jimmy, "faith, d'ye mean by rustlers?" "That's the only kind of raid cattlemen fear nowadays, since the wild animals have been well cleaned out and the reds stick to their reservations pretty much all the time," Harry informed him, "but just to think of what this would stand for, if it's true." "A traitor or traitors employed at the Double Cross Ranch," the scout master declared. "Well that wouldn't be the first time such a thing had happened. In fact, these cattle rustlers usually have means for learning all that is going on with the punchers. In that way, they manage to time their raids when most of the hands are away. Seems that there might be quite a bunch of the hounds, because he mentions the fact that the party he's sending the message to can count on five to muss things up at the time the raid is engineered." Harry laughed grimly.