Ned believed the man suspected something; that he feared this hasty and unusual summons might interfere with the cunning scheme engineered for that night. And while not appearing to watch the puncher at all, Ned could easily see that he made frequent signals, when he thought himself unobserved, to several others, whom Ned also marked down as the secret allies of the rustler's spy. These things, while seemingly unimportant, were really of considerable consequence, because much depended on their keeping the traitors from communicating with their friends in the hills. "Is that Sloper with the hat on the back of his head?" he asked Chunky, in a low tone, as the men were coming up. "Yes, and the one with him is Lefty Louie; that sneak trailin' along at his heels is Coyote Smith. Bob Caruso is the feller larfin' right now, and which makes him look like he could swallow a heifer easy; and Tinplate George is at the end of the bunch, limpin' some, 'count of a fling he got yesterday with a buckin' broncho. Got 'em all sized up now, have ye, Ned?" "Yes, and tell Mrs. Haines to start the circus right away, Chunky," was the reply. The rancher's wife had been nervously waiting for a sign. She now stepped forward and held up her hand, so that all noise ceased, and the men listened eagerly, for their curiosity had been greatly excited. "During the absence of Colonel Haines and Mr. Henshaw, you are to take your orders from this young man here, Ned Nestor, and through Chunky, who will act as temporary foreman. An emergency has arisen, making it very necessary that all our herds be rounded up immediately and driven into the big corral, where they can be guarded to-night. Ask no questions, but do your duty as employees of this ranch. That is all I wish to say, and I feel sure that every one of you will understand that I am in consultation with those I have put in charge and that it is my wishes they are carrying out." The punchers stared at each other. They could, of course, give a pretty good guess what this must mean, for the only real danger that could be feared at this time of year would be from rustlers. As a rule, they were a jolly lot of carefree fellows, willing to work double one day and loaf the next, as the occasion arose; it was all in the line of business with them. Ned had been watching Ally Sloper out of the tail of his eye. He saw the man scowl like a pirate of the Spanish Main. Of course, this was going to interfere seriously with all the well-laid plans between the spies and their rustler allies. They may have waited a long time for this very chance, when both proprietors of the ranch would be away at the same time; and, now that it had come, to be balked in their designs was enough to throw such a tempestuous man into a fury. "He's going to make trouble right away, Ned," whispered Jack in the ear of the scout master.