"I hardly know," answered Ted. "My plan is somewhat upset. I thought at first that they were going to attack us immediately in this room. But they seem to have changed their minds." "I've got a hunch," said Bud, scratching his head in a meditative way. "Let us have it. That's what we need now." "They're creeping up on us. I see one o' them a minute ago. They're countin' on gettin' up ter ther house before we expect 'em, an' then pourin' a volley inter us, an' puttin' us out o' business quick." "That would be like that brute Mowbray." "I've got it figgered that way. Now, s'posin' we fool 'em by not bein' here. They sneak until they git so's they kin fire through ther windows without any danger ter themselves, an' run away. But we ain't here." "Where will we be?" "Comin' up on them from behind." "That's the stuff. Notify the boys at once. We'll get behind the house and creep up on them through the grass. We'll fool them at their own game." As silently as ghosts the broncho boys deserted the living room and went to the back door. After carefully reconnoitering the situation without, Ted softly opened the door, and led the boys into the shadow of the house, and they crept away through the tall grass. Only Frederic Caruthers and Stella and the Japanese girl remained in the house. Skirting the house grounds, the boys were soon out on the prairie, giving their enemies a wide berth. Raising his head slightly from behind a tuft of grass, Ted took stock of the position of the enemy. In the shadow of the house beneath the windows of the living room he could see the still darker shadows of the Gray Wolves. Leading the boys into a semicircle from which at a word of command they could rush the house, Ted passed this word along the line: "If they enter the house, as they probably will, we will close in quietly, rush the house, and capture them inside. Let none of them escape, and make no noise." They had not many minutes to wait before the Gray Wolves began to get uneasy. Evidently they expected some movement within the house, and the continued silence puzzled them. But suddenly, like the scream of a tempest, the still air was shattered with wild yells and pistol shots, followed by the crash of breaking glass. The Gray Wolves had stormed the house, breaking in the windows, smashing in the front door, and making all the noise they could, with the object of frightening the inmates into a condition where they would be unable to defend themselves. Stella, with young Caruthers and Itsu San, had locked themselves into a back room, which they could defend for a few minutes at least against all comers. As the Gray Wolves attacked the house Ted gave the word to advance, and they moved forward as one man, crouching behind the grass tufts to be out of sight of any guard the Wolves might have set. It took not more than a minute or two to reach the side of the house, and look through the windows.