The invaders halted just beyond the range of the whip and consulted uneasily, not noticing that the driver had shortened his weapon by twice the length of its handle. Finally Jim and Docile ran back toward the corral while their friends waited impatiently for their return, grinning at the enemy with an I-told-you-so air. Bill suddenly leaned forward, the whip slid down into his hand to the end of the handle and cracked viciously. Joe Haines, who had grown a little careless, leaped into the air and yelled, grabbing at his leg. "Keep your distance, you!" warned the driver, trying to look ferocious. "Twenty feet is the dead-line, children." Jim and Docile returned apace and brought with them half a dozen lariats, which ranged in length from thirty to forty feet. "Hey, you!" cried Humble in alarm. "That ain't fair!" Grim silence was the only reply as the invaders each took his rope and surrounded the two. Then, suddenly, the air was full of darting ropes and in less time than it takes to tell of it the pair were hopelessly and helplessly trussed. Silent ran in and hurled the whip away and then squatted before the prisoners, throwing their cigars after the whip as he took up the pie and cake, which he tantalizingly munched before their eyes. "I like a hog, all right, but you suit me too blamed well!" asserted Bud, grabbing at Silent's pie. "Gimme some of that," demanded Jim, trying for the cake. And when the disturbance had ceased there were no signs of either pie or cake. "It's the travois for you, Humble dear!" softly hummed Charley Bailey. "And to the ranch, by the way of town!" "And Bill will be pleased to explore the Limping Water on the bottom," amended Jim. "One of us can drive the women home!" CHAPTER XXI THE ANNOUNCEMENT About thirty people sat in a circle on the grass in the grove on the A-Y, engaged in taking viands from the well-filled plates which made the rounds. Keen humor from all sides kept them in roars of laughter, Humble and Bill provoking the greater part of it. Humble sat next to Miss Ritchie, while The Orphan and Bill flanked Helen, the sheriff next to his new foreman. Humble's face had a look of benign condescension when he allowed himself to bestow perfunctory attentions on the members of his outfit, whom he graciously called "purty fair punchers in a way." Crawford, the former owner of the A-Y, sat next to Shields, and when the lunch had reached the cigar stage he arose and cleared his throat. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Bill and Humble," he began amid laughter. "I have been regarded as the host of this picnic, and the false position embarrasses me. But any such momentary feeling is compensated by the importance of what I have to tell you.