do this trick by
their masters, and it is in common use; so that the punchers believe it
is a poor animal that has not learned to roll over and play dead on
occasion.

Bob, too, managed to induce his mount to do the same thing; but to make
it absolutely certain that no unwise flounder on the part of Domino
might betray them, he sat upon the horse's head, soothing him by little
pats on his glossy hide.

"I hear 'em coming," announced Frank, presently.

The sounds reached him against the wind, so that it was quite natural
to believe the approaching horses must by now be very close. There was
a confused pounding that could only spring from a large body of
animals. The trained ear of Frank caught a significance in the clash
of hoofs that told him much more than Bob was able to make out.

"All horses, Bob," he whispered across the little gap that separated
him from his chum; "and two thirds of 'em running free, without saddles
or riders. Lie low, now, and see if you can glimpse 'em as they go
past."

"Won't they be apt to run over us?" asked Bob, a bit nervously.

"Nixy. I looked out to pick a place they'd be apt to avoid. They'll
brush past a little further to the south," and Frank ended his words
with a hiss of warning.

The pounding of many hoofs continued. Frank, straining his eyes,
believed he was now able to make out a confused moving mass at some
little distance away, heading directly toward the foot of Thunder
Mountain.

As the starlight was so vague he could not make out more than that here
and there a figure was mounted on a galloping horse, with several
unridden animals trailing along behind, as though led by ropes.

The little caravan passed quickly. Already they were vanishing in the
deeper shadows lying closer to the base of the mountain that towered
aloft several thousand feet.

Still the two boys continued to sit there, guarding their horses;
although all danger of discovery seemed absolutely past.

"Whew!" exclaimed Bob, presently, as the sound of retreating hoofs
began to die away; "what d'ye think of that, eh, Frank?"

"Indians?" queried the Kentucky boy, eagerly.

"Well," replied his chum, "not so's you could notice. Say, now, you
didn't see any feathers on their heads, did you? And I sure heard the
fellow nearest us say something that only a white man would remark,
when his horse stepped into a hole, and almost threw him over its head."

"Cow punchers; or perhaps rustlers?" co