ttered the horses and whooping men, bucked over the campfire and the
beds; then with long high leaps, he tore for the open.

"High, wide an' handsome," yelled Blinky, in a spasm of glee. "Ride
him, you Texas cowpunchin' galoot! You'll shore be the first one who
ever forked him fer keeps."

"Blink--if he--piles me--I'll lick you!" yelled back Pan.

"Lick nothin'," bawled Blinky, "you'll need a doctor."

But Pan stayed on that horse, which turned out to be the meanest and
most violent bucker he had ever bestrode. Less powerful horses had
thrown him. Eventually the plunging animal stopped, and Pan turned him
back to camp.

"Wal, you son-of-a-gun!" ejaculated Blinky, in genuine admiration.
"How'd you ever keep company with him?"

"Grin, you idiot," panted Pan, good humoredly. "Now men--we're ready
to look the valley over. I'll take Dad with me. Blink, you and Gus
turn the corner here and keep close under the slope all the way up the
valley. Look out for places where the wild horses might climb out.
Charley, you and Mac New cross to the other side of the valley, if you
can. Look the ground over along that western wall. And everybody keep
eyes peeled for wild horses, so we can get a line on numbers."

They rode out through the gateway into the valley, where they separated
into pairs. Pan, with his father, headed south along the slope. He
found distances somewhat greater than he had estimated from the bluff,
and obstacles that he had not noted at all. But by traveling farther
down he discovered a low ledge of rock, quite a wall in places, that
zigzagged out from the slope for a goodly distance. It had breaks here
and there which could easily be closed up with brush. This wall would
serve very well for part of the fence, and from the end of it out to
the wash there was comparatively level ground. Half a mile up the
slope the cedars grew thickly, so that the material for the fence was
easily accessible.

The wash proved to be a perpendicularly walled gorge fifty or more feet
deep with a sandy dry floor. It wound somewhat west by north up the
valley, and as far as he could see did not greatly differ in proportion
from the point where the fence was to touch.

"Dad, there are likely to be side washes, or cuts up toward the head,
where horses could get down," said Pan. "We'll fence right across
here. So if we do chase any horses into the wash we'll stop them here.
Sure, this long hole would make a great