"I can ride any hoss you can," boasted Two-Spot. "I was bustin' 'em before you was borned." "Then we'll hobble th' hoss," laughed Wiggins. "Loosen 'em up; I hears Dave a-callin'!" exclaimed Two-Spot, suspiciously eager to answer duty's call. "Where you aimin' to have him swing?" demanded Art. "Squint has got to be revenged." "Th' first tree," growled Slim. "We gives you one chance to save yoreself an' help rid this range of law-breakers. Who got Squint?" "You go to h--l!" blazed Two-Spot as the ropes tightened. "Take 'em off me!" "Who got Squint?" repeated Slim, threateningly. "If I tells, will you let me out of these cussed ropes?" asked the shivering victim. "We will!" "Smitty got him," chuckled the captive. "Ask him if you don't believe me. Take 'em off, now!" As soon as he was freed he danced away, wary and anxious, and bumped into Cimarron, whose muscular arms held him as in a vice. "_Now_, what's th' matter?" blazed Two-Spot, wriggling in vain. "What you reckon yo're goin' to do?" "We need a tally man on this rustlin' expedition," said Cimarron, "an' we like yore looks. Bring up a cayuse, an' he can go bareback; either that or ride with Art." "I'm ridin' with Art if I goes, which I ain't aimin' to!" snorted Two-Spot. "I can't count up to more'n ten," he protested. "You won't have to count at all," Cimarron assured him. "All you got to do is make little pencil marks like a picket fence on a piece of paper, or drop a pebble in yore hat for every cow. You can drop pebbles, can't you?" "Not very good," deprecated Two-Spot. "I'm too oncertain." "Well, when yo're oncertain," chuckled Slim, "yore chuck will be oncertain. Th' oncertainer you are, th' less you'll eat." Cimarron picked Two-Spot up and put him in the wagon, whereupon Slim and Wood rode up close to it, ropes in hand. "There ain't nothin' oncertain about Slim's ropin', or Wood's, neither," warned Cimarron. "You better stay right in that waggin." He turned to go to his horse. "Come on, boys! We're startin' _now_!" Dave went to a window to see them off, caught sight of Two-Spot's appealing face in the wagon, and hastened to the door and out toward the vehicle. "Hi!" shrilled Larry, his rope darting from his hand. "Hi! Hi! Hi!" yelled the others, their ropes going to the mark. "What'n h--l!" shouted Dave, struggling, and glaring around. He was the center from which four rope radii pointed to the cardinal points of the compass. "Leggo me! Loosen 'em up, you coyotes! Loosen up!" "Does Two-Spot go with us?" asked Larry. "Can we borrow him for a few days, to keep tally for us on th' SV, Mr. Green?" politely inquired Bud, tightening the rope. "You can; an' go to blazes, for all I cares!" snorted Dave. He loosened the ropes and lost no time in getting back to his window. "Cuss 'em! All right; _take_ him!" he yelled at the noisy cavalcade. "But if anythin' happens to him, you'll settle with Dave Green! You hear me?" They did not.