, which gave them a good view of the
surrounding territory, and eagerly scanned the vista. There seemed to
be nothing but cattle in sight, but a few moments after reaching the
little hill summit Dick exclaimed:

"There's a pony!"

Excitedly he pointed to it, and a moment later Nort had taken his field
glasses from their case and was focusing on the animal. After what
seemed like a long time, but which, really, was only a few seconds,
Nort cried:

"That's Bud's horse all right!"

"Do you see Bud?" anxiously inquired Dick.

"No, he doesn't seem to be in sight. But let's ride over there."

They urged their ponies forward at top speed but as they drew near
Bud's favorite mount, which he had brought with him from Diamond X, the
steed perversely kicked up his heels, wheeled about and was away on a
fast trot.

"He must have lost his bridle, or else the reins are caught up on the
saddle horn!" cried Dick as he and his brother took after the runaway.
For a Western horse, in almost all cases, will stand still if the reins
are dropped over his head to the ground. Of course there are
exceptions, but Bud's mount was well trained in this habit.
Consequently when Nort and Dick saw the animal running from them they
realized that one of two things must have happened. A horse cannot run
far with the bridle reins dangling in front of him. He is very likely
to step on them and trip himself up. But nothing like this happened
with Star, which was the name of Bud's pony. He ran on easily.

"Have to rope him, I guess!" cried Nort, who was a little in advance of
his brother.

"Go to it! We got to find out what's wrong!"

There was an exciting race for a few minutes but in the end Nort and
his trusty lariat won. The coils settled over the head of the runaway
and he was gently brought to a halt. Once caught he was tractable
enough. It was as though he had wanted to show off.

"Bridle's gone; eh?" remarked Dick as he cantered up alongside his
brother and the captured horse. "That looks bad."

"Unless Bud took it off himself, to let his pony graze in more comfort."

"He wouldn't do that without hobbling him, and look--there's his rope."
Dick pointed to the coils on the saddle horn.

"Then what happened? Is there any----"

Nort did not like to use the word "blood," but that is what he implied.
And his brother knew the thought--that Bud might have been shot by some
rustlers or roving desperados and so had been dropped