any of the honor they had won. That was one
reason why they wanted to bring Mr. Wentworth and his boys into their
mess. They supposed they were going back to the fort with Captain
Clinton's command, and they wanted to carry those boys through the gate
themselves. But, as it happened, the captain had decided upon something
else, and by that decision had unconsciously given Bob's lucky squad of
Brindles an opportunity to add to their laurels. We shall see what use
they made of it.

CHAPTER XV.

MORE BAD LUCK FOR MR. WENTWORTH.

While Bob and his men were staking out their horses they were besieged
by anxious Brindles who wanted to know just where they had been and what
they had done during their absence. No incident connected with the
experience of their successful comrades was deemed too trivial for their
notice. Bob and the rest answered their questions as fast as they were
able, and asked a good many in return. They learned that Captain Clinton
had fallen in with the stolen cattle about one o'clock that morning, but
the Indians they had hoped to find with them were not to be seen. The
captain had pursued them so closely that they did not have time to drive
the stock into the Staked Plains, to die there of thirst, and neither
did they harass the column, as George said they would. Their force was
too small to accomplish anything by it. The captain had spent all the
forenoon in gathering up the stock, and it was now feeding on the
prairie close by, guarded by a large squad of troopers.

"I'll tell you what's a fact, boys," said one of the Brindles. "This
raid must have been a big thing, for just after you left us we struck
the trail of a large drove that joined ours, and a little farther on we
found another. But they were both older than our own, so the scout said,
and the drove we followed was left behind as a sort of bait for us to
swallow, while the main herd was driven off."

"Why didn't you go on after the main herd?" asked Bob.

"It would have been of no use. It had too much of a start; and besides,
we have already got just as much on our hands as we can attend to. We
have been all day gathering up the cattle we have got, and it is just
all we can do to hold fast to them. The fellows up there must attend to
the rest."

By "the fellows up there" the troopers meant to indicate the cavalry
attached to the several posts north of the Staked Plains.

When Bob went back to the captain's head-quarters, Geor