y guess.
They'll try again."

And so the Greasers did.

Withdrawing to a safe distance from the slings--which could only just
about carry across Spur Creek, a conference was held among the sheep
herders. Then they came on again, trying in the same place.

But Bud and his friends were ready, with an unlimited supply of
ammunition. Stones were plentiful along the creek, and each cowboy had
his pockets full.

One advantage of the sling shots was that they could be "loaded and
fired" much more rapidly than the guns--by which I mean the .45
revolvers. And of course on humanitarian grounds there was no
comparison--no one was killed or even severely wounded by the stones.
They were only painfully hurt.

But this was part of the game. It was open warfare and had to be
endured. Besides, from the standpoint of Bud and his comrades, they
were in the right and the sheep herders were in the wrong.

I have no doubt but that the herders of the sheep reasoned just the
other way--holding that they had a right to cross the creek and pasture
their charges on the rich grass beyond, and arguing that the Diamond X
outfit was in the wrong.

And in this conflict lies my story, such as it is.

After the third attempt to cross the creek with their sheep, being
driven back each time, the Mexicans seemed to lose patience. There
were angry voices as most of the Greasers gathered about one man who
seemed to be their leader, and who had, it was evident, counseled
pacific measures. Now these came to an end.

For on the "fourth down," as Dick laughingly referred to it, the
Greasers began shooting bullets as they rode their horses into the
stream.

"Now it's a fight in earnest!" cried Bud.

"Draw your guns!" ordered Billee sternly.

The real battle was about to open.

CHAPTER XX

THE FLAG OF TRUCE

The advantage in the fight was on the side of the Diamond X outfit,
even though it was outnumbered. For the Greaser sheep herders nearly
doubled the force of the cowboys. But this, in itself, was not such a
handicap as would at first appear.

Naturally any cowboy held himself more than a match for any two
Greasers, and if this were not enough, the sheep men had the
disadvantage of having to cross a stream in the face of fire. This is
always likely to result in disaster, even in more modern warfare than
that which I am writing about. There are several reasons for this,
whether the attacking party, crossing the stream, is