"Aw, g'wan! But they'll see th' flower, won't they?" "Shore they will; but as long as they don't know how it got there they can't say much." "They can't, hey!" Johnny exclaimed. "That's a new one on me. It's usually what they don't know about that they talks of most. What they don't know they can guess in this case, all right. Most of 'em are good on readin' signs, an' that's plain as th' devil." "But don't you tell 'em!" Hopalong warned. "No. I won't tell 'em, honest," Johnny replied. He could convey the information in a negative way and he grinned hopefully at the fun there would be. "I mean it, Kid," Hopalong responded, reading the grin. "I don't care about myself; they can joke all they wants with me. But it ain't nowise right to drag her into it, savvy? She don't want to be talked about like that." "Yo're right; they won't find out nothin' from me," and Johnny saw his fun slip from him. "I'm goin' east; comin' along?" "No; th' other way. So long." "Hey!" cried Johnny anxiously, drawing rein, "Frenchy said Buck was going to put some of us up in Number Five so Frenchy an' his four could ride th' line. Did Buck say anything to you about it?" Line house Number Five was too far from the zone of excitement, if fighting should break out along the line, to please Johnny. "He was stringin' you, Kid," Hopalong laughed. "He won't take any of th' old outfit away from here." "Oh, I knowed that; but I thought I'd ask, that's all," and Johnny cantered away, whistling happily. Hopalong looked after him and smiled, for Johnny had laughed and fought and teased himself into the heart of every man of the outfit: "He's shore a good Kid; an' how he likes a fight!" CHAPTER V HOPALONG ASSERTS HIMSELF Paralleling West Arroyo and two miles east of it was another arroyo, through which Hopalong was riding the day following his meeting with Mary. Coming to a place where he could look over the bank he saw a herd of H2 and Three Triangle cows grazing not far away, and Antonio was in charge of them. Hopalong did not know how long they had been in the valley, nor how they had crossed the line, but their presence was enough. It angered him, for here was open and, it appeared, authorized defiance. Not content to let his herds run as they wished, Meeker was actually sending them into the valley under guard, presumably to find out what would be done about it. The H2 foreman would find that out very soon. The Mexican looked around and wheeled sharply to face the danger, his listlessness gone in a flash. He was not there because of any orders from Meeker, but for reasons of his own. So when the Bar-20 puncher raised his arm and swept it towards the line he sat in sullen indifference, alert and crafty. "You've got gall!" cried Hopalong. "Who told you to herd up here!" Antonio frowned but did not reply. "Yo're three miles too far north," continued Hopalong, riding slowly forward until their stirrups almost touched. Antonio shrugged his shoulders.