Half an hour may have seemed like a very short time to Jimmy, who disliked to give anything up on which he had set his heart; but he realized that Ned was always a better judge of things than he could ever hope to be. Besides, their ponies had begun to exhibit slight signs of weariness, not having fully recovered from the effects of the weed they had eaten, and which had made them sick. As the ranch buildings were a good many miles away, they must not force the ponies too hard if they hoped to be home by sunset. This was only the first of many trips the scouts had planned to cover during their stay at the cattle ranch. They meant to exhaust the resources of the country for good times, and Jack was figuring on adding largely to his collection of wild animals' pictures while there. He had interested Jimmy in the matter, so that he could count on company and assistance in his excursions by day and night in search of fitting subjects. They turned their ponies at the brush and started to comb it, being constantly on the watch for signs of a leaping deer aroused from a noonday nap in the shade. The going was inclined to be rough, so that they had to be careful not to let their mounts trip and throw them. Ned knew that what little air there was stirring came in their faces, which was a favorable sign; but it is doubtful whether any of the others noticed this fact, as they were not in the same class as the scout master when it came to understanding the elements that go to make a successful stalk. Still no game obliged them by jumping out of some shady covert, which Jimmy considered mighty mean, when his stomach was fairly clamoring for food. When the nature of their surroundings showed a considerable change, and instead of mere brush and a scraggy growth of trees they found rocks surrounding them, with miniature canyons opening up all around, Ned began to think they had gone far enough. He yielded, however, to Jimmy's pleading when the latter suggested that they fasten the ponies in a thicket and advance a short distance on foot. "It looks good to me up yonder," Jimmy was saying feverishly. "I'm most sure now I glimpsed somethin' movin', which might have been a browsin' Rocky Mountain big horn sheep, if they have such down here; or, again p'raps, it was a grizzly bear, or a four-legged venison feedin'. Let's take a turn up there and if we don't raise a solitary thing, why, I'll give in and go back home empty-handed, feelin' like a dog with his tail between his legs." Ned certainly would not think of letting Jimmy make that little excursion alone, nor did he feel like allowing only one other to accompany the would-be mighty hunter. Chunky had warned them particularly against getting scattered while exploring the country roundabout. "Where one goes all must follow!" he said, positively. "Bully for you, Ned," Jimmy declared joyously. "The more the merrier they say; and Jack and me'll be glad to have the whole bunch along."