“Certainly not!” Bill Lefton said angrily. “Mob was joking when he said that. Weren’t you, Mob?” “Um--suppose so,” Mob answered ungraciously. “Great little joker, me. Sit down boys, an’ fill up.” While Jerry started a fire, Mob and Bill “rustled” the food. When twilight made its farewell bow, the bacon and beans were sizzling over the flames. The boys had no fear that they were causing worry at home by staying on the range longer than they had expected to. Early that afternoon they had started riding fence, and they knew Mr. Manley would realize that something had occurred to delay them. He was confident of their ability to take care of themselves under all circumstances; they had proved that, many times. And whatever fears Mrs. Manley had for them she kept to herself. Never would she let them see that she worried when they were unaccountably absent. Long ago she had determined that the best way to bring up her sons was to make them independent, self-reliant. She knew that continual expressions of worry would only hinder their growth into what she wanted them to be--true men, sons of the West. They never realized that she had spent many sleepless nights wondering, praying for their safety when they were from home on a mission of danger. She wished them to be brave, and she, herself, held forth the shining example. What she was, her sons would be. The meal at the Lefton camp was soon concluded. No mention was made of buying or selling cattle, although Teddy several times suggested that the round-up was soon to take place and that his father expected several buyers from the East. Each time either Jerry or Bill Lefton changed the subject rather hurriedly, and when Teddy and Roy arose to start their journey home both realized that it was practically useless to count on these brothers to take any of their cattle. They remounted, and turned their broncos, homeward. “Yore horse all right now?” Mob inquired, motioning with his head toward Flash’s leg. “Sure! O.K.,” Teddy replied. “He’ll step lively on the way to the ranch. Thanks, again, for all you’ve done for us. If ever we get the chance, we’ll repay you.” “Don’t reckon you’ll get the chance,” Jerry answered, a bit gruffly. “We’d do that for anybody. So long!” “So long! Much obliged!” The boys rode out of the circle of the firelight. The three men were standing, watching them depart. Soon they were swallowed up in the moonless night. Silently the lads rode, for fully five minutes, and then Teddy said: “Get what you went after, Roy?” “Huh? What I--oh! Yep, I did. I found out one thing--they’re not cattle buyers. It may have seemed foolish to hang around when we should have started home, but I figured we might as well learn all we could about the Lefton brothers. And I learned enough.” “Yea?” “I learned, for one thing, that they did not intend to go to the X Bar X to-night to keep their appointment with dad. They’d rather drop in unexpectedly, it seems.”