The boys felt keenly the loss of their ponies, and braved many dangers before regaining them. The fact that the Manley posse caught the rustlers when they were about to make a raid on the cattle of X Bar X added not a little to the excitement. In the second book, called “The X Bar X Boys in Thunder Canyon,” the adventures of Teddy and Roy on the trail of kidnappers are related. These scoundrels, in revenge for a wrong they fancied Mr. Manley had done them, took Belle Ada, the boys’ sister, and Nell Willis and Ethel Carew, her friends, to a cavern far up Thunder Canyon. Guarded there by an old woman and a number of men, the girls had a terrifying time until Roy and Teddy found them and brought them safely home after rounding up the kidnappers, who turned out to be the same gang that had made trouble at the X Bar X Ranch before. The voice of the man who was quarreling with their father in the ranch yard was not an unfamiliar one to the Manley boys. Teddy, who was leading, reined up sharply and jerked his head in the direction from which the words were coming. “Jake Trummer,” he said shortly. “Seems to be getting a load off his chest. Wonder what the row is about.” “Plenty, from the noise,” Roy answered. “He’s sure laying it into dad. Let’s investigate.” As the boys were intimately concerned with the running of the X Bar X, their decision to learn the cause of the argument was not an intrusion. They knew their father wished them to know anything that concerned the ranch. So, chirping gently to their ponies, they rode around the bunk-house and came in sight of the speaker. Jake Trummer had his back to them as they trotted up. “You heard what I said, Bard Manley,” he was thundering. “I ain’t got no time for foolin’ around. Either you take yore cattle off my ranges, or, by gosh, I’ll drive ’em off, an’ none too gentle, either! You hear me!” “Can’t help it, not bein’ deaf,” Mr. Manley returned. “You make a noise like a steam calliope, Jake, only not so pleasant. But you use the same kind of power--hot air. Now listen. Just as fast as I can, I’ll--hello boys!” their father suddenly broke off. “You’re just in time. Jake, here, was tellin’ me a nice little story about a bad wolf; wasn’t it, Jake?” “We heard some of it,” Roy said, with a grin, and dismounted. “What’s the matter, Mr. Trummer?” “Matter enough! And if you think it’s a nice story, you’ll learn different, Bard Manley! You get yore cattle off my ranges, an’ quick! You know the grass down by Whirlpool River is the best grazin’ in the state, an’ you know I only got a certain amount of it. Hardly enough for my own stock. Then you let yore cows go roamin’ all around creation an’--”