Each claimed that he had nothing to do with cutting out the wire, denied that he was driving the cattle and, of course, claimed to be innocent of any wrong-doing. "Well," said Fred, "I hope you will be able to prove your innocence in court, for that is where you are going." Then Fred turned on the two cowboys and asked them why they had left that corner of the ranch unguarded. "Boss," one of them said, "there wasn't enough of us to reach down so far, and we thought that it would be safe to let it alone and to-morrow report it, but as soon as we saw the light we came down to investigate it." Both of them thought that that excuse was reasonable, and Fred told them that they were expected to be vigilant in the discharge of their work and that they would employ more cowboys. "Now you two can lie down here and sleep while we keep watch." "Boss, we'll watch while you sleep," was the reply. "No, we are going to keep watch ourselves. At daylight I want one of you to make your way back to the barn and hitch up a team, bring down a coil of wire and the necessary tools to repair this gap and then take the prisoners back to town. "Fred," said Terry, "why not tell them to bring a coil of rope." "What do you want with a rope, Terry?" "Oh, Judge Lynch always has use for a rope for cattle thieves. I will act as sheriff, if you don't wish to have anything to do with it. Generally I am opposed to lynching, but this is a fair case." "No, Terry, I don't believe in that. I'm sorry that, instead of capturing them, we didn't shoot them and thus get rid of them without calling in Judge Lynch." The prisoners, of course, heard every word that the boys uttered. The fact is, they were both talking for their benefit. The cowboys, though, thought that they were in earnest and they would see a lynching, so when the dawn of day began to appear in the east Fred sent one of the cowboys back to the barn with instructions to bring down a coil of barb wire and a coil of rope. One of the prisoners, tied to the tree, begged that Mr. Fearnot would come up to the tree and let him talk with him. Fred did so, and the fellow said that if he wouldn't punish him and would release him, he would leave the country and never show up there again. "Oh, yes; but it is bad policy to let a cattle thief go loose, after he has been caught in the act." Then the others began making similar promises, and never did men beg for their lives as hard as they did. One of the cowboys was sent off for wire and rope, and while he was gone a farmer came by, making an early start for Crabtree. The road passed within a couple of hundred yards of where the men were tied to the tree, and he heard them talking as well as noticed the smoke from the fire which Fred and Terry had built out there. He left his team in the road, and coming into the woods, there learned the whole secret of the situation.