It was soon decided to keep the herds confined until the following morning, when they would be driven forth once more to their several grazing grounds. They must be guarded day and night for the time being, and orders were given to all hands to shoot straight in case another raid were attempted. Colonel Haines was very angry over the way things were going. He feared that if those reckless rustlers were allowed to hold forth in the strip of land bordering the Colorado, they would continue to take toll from the herds of the Double Cross Ranch, and that this might in some way serve to make Harry carry an unfavorable report back to his rich father. And so the stockmen put their heads together and decided that the time had come to make a determined effort to rid the country of the lawless cattle thieves. In the morning they would send a messenger to the nearest town with a note to the sheriff, demanding that he come straightway out with an armed posse and begin a systematic search for the hiding place of the gang. It must be war to the knife after this between the cow-punchers and the rustlers, who must be made to realize that it would be too hot for them in that "neck of the woods." In the morning everyone was up before sunrise, for there was plenty to be attended to on this day. The four scouts determined to ride out in a bunch with Chunky and see the prize herd taken back to the vicinity of Washout Coulie. Then they could employ the balance of the day to suit themselves, perhaps in looking for game that was to be found in the hills near by. The ponies had all recovered from their sickness. Whatever it had been that the treacherous puncher had dosed them with, either the effect had worn off or else the horse medicine which Mrs. Haines had taken from her husband's chest must have counteracted the drug. No one was more pleased to learn this fact than Harry, who had a very tender heart and disliked to see even animals suffer. Jimmy enjoyed that morning ride greatly. He soon caught the spirit of the range, and mounted on the back of his calico pony he drove this way and that, shouting louder than any seasoned puncher, slapping his quirt and doing bravely in assisting to keep the cattle bunched on the drive. Everything seemed to be quiet around the coulie that had been the scene of their spirited engagement with the rustler gang some thirty hours and more previously. After the severe lesson that had been taught the thieving pack, it was firmly believed they would remain in hiding for some time now, waiting for the excitement to blow over and the punchers to get careless again. At the same time, when the scouts started to leave the coulie, bent on skirmishing around to see if they could scare up anything worth while in the shape of game, Chunky thought it his duty to warn them to keep their eyes about them all the while.