Once it became evident that catching the rustlers was likely to be the work of a long chase on the trail, the whole party of pursuers came to a halt beside the boy ranchers. And after some rapid talk of what might lay beyond their stopping place, in a lonely, wild and desolate section of the defile, the conversation switched to what had surprised Bud and his cousins--the absence of the cattle. "I s'posed they were driving the steers ahead of 'em all along," admitted North "They drove the animals off our ranch, and I didn't think but what they were hazing 'em along to some place where they could change or blur the brands, and then sell 'em." "That's what I thought, too," acknowledged Dick. "Well, I must say I didn't think much about it," confessed Bud. "When I saw Del Pinzo and his gang in there all I wanted to do was to come to hand-grips with 'em. I forgot all about the cattle. But after we'd chased along a bit I did begin to wonder where my animals were--_our_ animals, I should say," he corrected himself with a glance at his cousins. However, they understood. "They must have gotten the cattle over to Double Z, or wherever it is they dispose of 'em," suggested Dick. "They couldn't--not in this short time," declared Slim. "We followed 'em too close. Besides, there isn't a sign of any cattle having been here, nor in that place where we surprised th' head Greaser and his gang. Not a sign of cattle!" He looked up and down the gorge, as did the other cowboys. But not even the sharpest eye could detect the faintest "sign" of the steers having been driven along the passage. "They must have them hidden somewhere," said Dick. "We'd better go back to the place where the sign petered out. There must be some opening there out of the main canyon." "If there is it's so well hid that it takes sharper eyes than I've got to find it," declared Snake, and he was noted for his far-seeing and clear vision. "Go _back_!" exclaimed North impulsively. "We aren't going back, are we, until we get Del Pinzo and his gang?" "Shoot 'em up--that's what I advise!" cried Yellin' Kid. There was a moment's pause, and Bud spoke. "We're got two things to do," said the boy rancher. "One is to get our cattle back, and the other is to nab the rustlers. But it's more important to get the cattle, I think. "If we don't do that our ranch experiment will be a failure," he went on. "But, of course, for the sake of other ranchers, it would be a mighty good thing if we could put Del Pinzo and his rustler crowd out of business." "Can't we do both?" asked Nort. "That's what I was coming to," his cousin continued. "If we can get on the trail of the hidden steers--for hidden they are, I'm sure--we can haze them back to the valley. Then we can keep on after this crowd," and he nodded toward the winding trail that led down the narrow defile. "Then you think we'd better go back!" asked Dick.