“Some sort of a blaze. Let’s investigate. May be the beginnings of a fire. Golly, that would be hard luck! Come on, let’s get a wiggle on. If it is a fire we want to let the rest of ’em know.” The boys leaped their ponies into a run, and as they rode forward they saw that a red glow showed in the distance. “Kind of small for a prairie fire,” Teddy called. “And it doesn’t seem to get any larger.” “Let’s slow down,” Roy said suddenly. “That’s a fire, all right. But it was made to cook stuff over, not to burn weeds.” “You mean a campfire?” “Sure do.” “On our range, too! Now who do you suppose--” “Soon find out. Take it easy.” They went quietly forward, and then Teddy saw that his brother had been right. It was a campfire. They could see forms moving about, crossing between them and the flame. “Shall we have a look?” Teddy asked in a low voice. “I’ll tell a maverick we will! Let’s leave the ponies here and walk. Guess we’ll have to put our detective badges on again.” But there was no humor in Roy’s voice as he said it. A strange campfire on a range during round-up time is no joking matter. They dismounted and picketed Flash and Star to a near-by bush. Then they proceeded on foot. “Got a fine nerve, whoever it is,” Roy remarked. “Probably thought we’d all be too tired to do much riding to-night.” They could hear the sound of voices now, making no attempt at concealment, loud in their denunciations of one of their members. As yet the boys could distinguish no individuals, but they saw that there were quite a crowd of men about the fire. “Six, anyway,” Teddy said softly. “Yep, just six. I can count ’em. Listen!” One of the men was speaking. “I blame you, Jamisson, for this whole business. Ever since you’ve been with us you’ve caused trouble. Once more--and you’re out.” “Is that so! Well, Peterson, I’ve heard that story before! An’ it’ll take more than you and yore gang to call me out on a deal like this after I’ve gone this far!” “Aw, for the love of Pete, let’s cut this fightin’ out!” murmured another voice. “Where’ll that get us? Go ahead with your story, Peterson.” CHAPTER XXI THE RUSTLERS’ CAMP Teddy and Roy sank back into the shadows. Peterson! And the others were Mob Jamisson and the Lefton boys! There were two strangers with them. “Well, I wanted to express my opinion of this bird,” Peterson growled. “I’m getting the raw end of this deal, and I take the most chances, too. Suppose that Manley bunch finds out I’m in with you? I’d walk right into their hands and it ’ud mean a nice long jail sentence for me. The rest of you can keep out of sight, but I’ve got to play close to the ground.” “All right, all right! We know all that. Let’s have the plan now!”