cowboy joined them.
In order to gain the horses, they had to move in a semicircle. When they
reached the animals, they found the steeds exceedingly nervous and
inclined to bolt.

"Reckon they smell the snakes," was Todd's comment. "A hoss ain't got no
use for rattlers--and I ain't nuther," he added, and rode away, with the
boys beside him.

"What about the grouse?" asked Phil, mournfully.

"Do you want to go back after them?" questioned Dave, with a grim smile.

"Not for a thousand dollars!"

"Then I guess we'll have to let the snakes have them," went on Dave.
"Let us be thankful that we weren't bitten."

"Rattlesnakes is the one drawback to this country," said the cowboy,
when they were a safe distance from the reptiles. "I don't mind wild
beasts, but I do draw the line on snakes. But there ain't near so many
as there used to be, an' some day there won't be any at all."

"After this I am going to beware of holes that look snaky," was Roger's
comment. "I think if a rattlesnake got close to me I'd be paralyzed with
fright."

As they went on, they kept their eyes open for more game, and just
before resting for dinner Dave saw some grouse high up in a tree in a
hollow. With caution they advanced, this time on horseback, and all
fired together as before. Out of the tree fluttered seven grouse, for
they had been close together and the shot had created great havoc. All
but one were dead and the seventh was quickly dispatched by Todd.

"We'll have some good eating to-night, after all," said Roger, with a
grin. He liked fowl of all kinds.

The stop for dinner was made beside a mountain spring, where the water
was icy cold and as clear as crystal. They took their time eating, thus
allowing the horses a chance to rest and to crop the nearby grass.

"We have covered about twenty miles," said the cowboy, in reply to a
question from Phil.

"Then, if we do as well this afternoon, we'll be forty miles from the
ranch by the time we camp to-night."

"We'll not make over ten or twelve miles this afternoon, lad," was the
answer. "It will be hard climbing up the hills."

"But harder climbing to-morrow," put in Dave.

"Yes, to-morrow will test the horses, and test you, too," said Todd.

It was very pleasant to rest in the shade after such a long ride in the
sun, but the cowboy was anxious to reach a certain camping spot for the
night, and so he allowed only three-quarters of an hour for the midday
halt.

As soon as th