“Those cries came from the plains.  Mebbe it’s the thieves going for more cattle,” declared Sandy.

“We’ll find out what it is.  Everybody to horse!” commanded Mr. Wilder.  “Pete, three or four of you go with Horace and the Aldens to get their ponies.  We’ll ride up and join you.”

CHAPTER XIX

A TERRIBLE PLOT

Quickly the men ran to the woods where they had concealed their ponies, unhobbled, saddled and mounted them, riding along till they came to where Pete and the boys were.

“Which way shall we go?” inquired Sandy when all were In their saddles.  “That cry came from straight ahead of us on the plains, according to my judgment.”

Pete and the other cowboys agreed with him, and, trusting to their sense of direction, the owner of the Half-Moon said: 

“Then we’ll ride due east.  Spread out abreast.  The more ground we can cover the better.”

“But don’t get too far apart,” interposed the rancher from the Three Stars.  “Keep close enough together so you can see the man on your right.”

Rapidly were these commands given, and within fifteen minutes after the mysterious calls had startled them the twenty-three horsemen were advancing over the prairie, eyes and ears alert for sound or sight of the men who had uttered the signals, the two Eastern boys and Horace riding between Mr. Wilder and Pete at the southern end of the line.

But for once Sandy’s ears had played him false.  Ignorant of the psychological fact that only when a man’s head is turned can he correctly judge the direction of sound, it being impossible to distinguish between a sound coming from directly in front or behind, the foreman of the Three Stars Ranch had been deceived because he had been looking straight ahead out into the prairie.  And instead of riding toward the men who had roused them by their cries, each bound of the horses was carrying them farther away.

When Larry and his companions had met the bear, the four raiders with the cattle Jeffreys had seen were only about two miles in advance of them.  As the boys had thought, the reverberations of the shots had reached the ears of the men at the rear of the cattle and they had uttered the wail as a signal to those ahead, jumping to the conclusion that they were being followed.

Making use of their knowledge of the mountains, the raiders had hurriedly driven the cattle into the forest, where they would be out of sight and so could not give warning of the whereabouts of the thieves, and had then hidden themselves behind some rocks along the trail.  From their ambuscade they would be able to shoot down their pursuers or capture them as they felt inclined.

But as the reader knows, the boys doubled on their trail and so divided the trap.

After waiting till dark without any sign of pursuers, the raiders grew fearsome.