the
boys. "Look out! Up you come!"

CHAPTER XVIII

AN INDIAN

"It's a cattle stampede!"

Before Russ and Laddie had a chance to think what this meant, though
Uncle Fred had told them in his stories, each little boy felt himself
caught up in strong arms, and set on a horse in front of a cowboy.

What had happened was that two of Uncle Fred's cowboys had ridden along
when Russ and Laddie were at the spring, and, fearing the little lads
might get into danger, they had taken them up on their saddles.

"Where are we going?" asked Laddie, undecided whether or not to cry.

"We are going home--that is, I'm going to take you home," said the
cowboy, smiling down at Laddie. "Then we'll try to stop these cattle
from running away."

"Are the cattle running away?" asked Russ of the cowboy who held him so
firmly in front on his saddle.

"That's what they are, little man," was the answer. "Something
frightened the steers, and they started to run. We've got to stop 'em,
too!"

"Will they run far?" asked Russ.

"Well, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't," answered the cowboy.
"It all depends. Out here on the plain, where there isn't any high land
or cliffs for them to topple over, there isn't much danger. The cattle
will run until they get tired out. But, of course, some of 'em get
stepped on and hurt, and that's bad. And sometimes our cattle get mixed
in with another herd, when they stampede this way, and it's hard to get
'em unmixed again. But we're going to take you two boys to the ranch
house, and then we'll try to stop the stampede. What were you doing out
here, anyhow?"

"Looking at the spring," answered Russ. "It's gone dry again."

"Has it?" asked the cowboy. "Then that means we'll lose more cattle, I
reckon. Maybe the men started this stampede."

"No, I think this stampede was started by Indians," said the cowboy who
had Laddie, and who had just ridden up alongside Russ in order to speak
to "his cowboy" as Russ afterward called him.

"Indians!" cried Russ.

"Yes. Sometimes they come off the reservation, and start to travel to
see some of their friends. A band of Indians will stampede a bunch of
cattle as soon as anything else."

"Could we see the Indians?" asked Laddie.

"Well, maybe you can, if they come to the ranch. Some do to get
something to eat," was the answer. "But hold tight now, we've got to
ride faster, if we want to get help in time to stop the runaway cattle."

So the two lit