Terry searched him for a weapon and found an ugly-looking knife and a revolver on him. He took possession of the weapons and, with the ball of twine he had with him, bound him hard and fast, his hands behind him and his ankles together, and then ran on ahead of the cattle to look for the gap he suspected they were headed for, he soon found it. Before a single beef had passed through he and Fred turned the cattle back. Then both of them followed the trail of the thieves, which they were enabled to do, dark though it was, by following the disarranged tall grass. They found all of the men had recovered consciousness except the fourth man, who, was lying where he had fallen like a dead man. "Terry," said Fred, "this is your man. What in thunder did you crack him so hard for?" "I wanted to make sure of him," and they proceeded to drag the men to the gap that had been cut through the wire fence, took them through it, stood them up against a tree, for there were a few scattering trees growing down there, and tied them to the trunk hard and fast. They both struck matches and held them up before their faces to see if they could recognize them, but they had never seen them before. One of them, fearing that he would be recognized, very promptly blew out the light and mattered something in Spanish, so from that Fred and Terry judged that they were Mexicans--one, at least--and Fred took Terry aside and whispered to him that there must be other men mixed up in it; so they concluded to build a fire some ten feet off from them and then go back inside the enclosure and conceal themselves in the grass to watch, for they knew that nobody could go up to the tree to release the men tied there without being seen by the light of the fire. The fire was built up against an old dead log, which, being dry and well seasoned, burned readily, and in some places blazed up some ten feet or more high. Some of the cowboys, seeing the light of the fire a half mile away, came down to see what it meant. Fred and Terry recognized them and they waited to watch their movements. One of them went up and talked with one of the men who was bound to the tree. Both of them suspected their loyalty, but they proved to be true. They looked around to find Fred and Terry, and several times used the signals that Fred had given them. When Fred and Terry returned their signals they came toward them, looking carefully for them. When they found them one of them asked: "Boss, did you tie up those fellows?" "Yes," said Terry, "and there's another one lying back there in the grass with a broken head, but all the same we tied him by his hands and feet to keep him from getting away." Just then they heard the man groaning and calling to his pals, and the two cowboys followed the sound of his voice and soon found him, he having recovered consciousness. They picked him up and brought him down near the fire. There all four of them denied that they had done anything wrong.