In this way Ned passed the night. It was a long and dreary one to him, but morning came at last, and then Ned mustered up courage enough to draw the curtains and throw open the shutters. He felt perfectly safe now, and being overcome with weariness he sunk back upon the sofa and fell into a sound sleep. He slept until almost dinner-time, and felt weak and exhausted when he got up. To his great surprise no one, except his father, had anything to say about the fight. The servants, who were all old frontiersmen (there were no women about the house), had passed through so many similar scenes that they had became accustomed to them, and seemed to think that they were hardly worth talking about. He found his father in the office, and his first words were: “Well, Ned, the raiders did us some damage, after all. After we drove them away from here they went out and caught Edwards napping, and we are ten thousand dollars poorer than we were yesterday!” Edwards was one of the herdsmen. His cattle, numbering over a thousand, had been brought in a few days before for the inspection of a drover who had purchased half the herd. These the drover had taken to Palos, and Mose, another herdsman in Uncle John’s employ, had been sent along to assist him. Edwards ought to have been well out of the way with the rest of the herd by this time, but he had loitered on the road in order to visit some of his friends, and the thieves had taken him off his guard. “I found Edwards here when I awoke this morning,” added Uncle John. “Where is he now?” asked Ned. “I should like to hear him tell his story.” “O, he had no story to tell. He went into camp a few miles from here, and early this morning the raiders surrounded his stock and drove it off. Edwards saved himself by jumping on a horse without saddle or bridle, and came down to tell me about it. I have told him where our other herds are, and sent him out to see if they are safe. Ten thousand dollars is a large sum to lose in one night.” Ned made no reply. Indeed, he did not seem to take the least interest in the matter. The money was no loss to him, but it came out of the pockets of one who could lose three times that amount every year and still have enough left to support Uncle John and his graceless son in better style than they had ever been able to support themselves.