tch, and they were keeping wary eyes
turned toward the creek boundary through the mist of rain.

"This is no fun," mused Nort as he wrapped his poncho closer about him.

"I've seen more jolly times," agreed Bud with a laugh. "But it can't
last forever. Wonder what time it is, anyhow?"

Before Nort could answer there suddenly flashed in the southern sky a
glare of fire.

"Lightning!" exclaimed Nort.

"A rocket!" cried Bud, all excited. "It means something, Nort! Maybe
the sheep herders are coming!"

CHAPTER VII

A PARLEY

For a moment the two boys remained motionless and quiet, waiting for
what might develop. But the dying sparks of the rocket--if such it
was--were followed by no other demonstration.

"We'd better call Billee and the others," murmured Bud.

"That's right," agreed Nort in a low voice, though there was no need
for this, as the rocket-senders must have been several miles away.

Billee Dobb awakened at the slightest whisper near his bunk, and in a
few moments Dick, Yellin' Kid and the other cowboys, of whom there were
half a dozen at the "fort," as it was called, were awake. It did not
take them long to hustle into their clothes, and then, draped in
ponchos, for it was still raining hard, they stood out in the darkness,
waiting for what might happen next.

"Couldn't have been a rocket," murmured Old Billee, as the rain pelted
down. "It's too wet for that."

"Must have been some Greasers around a camp fire--though how in the
name of a maverick they got one to burn I don't see," observed Yellin'
Kid, making his voice only a little lower than usual. "Must 'a' been
that one of 'em chucked a brand up in the air."

"It wasn't like a fire brand," declared Nort.

"It was just like a regular rocket," added Bud.

Old Billee was about to say something, probably to the effect that it
was a false alarm, and that they'd all do better to be back in their
warm bunks when the blackness of the night was suddenly dispelled off
to the south by a sliver of flame, followed by a trail of red sparks.

"There she goes again!" cried Bud.

"The same as before," added Nort.

"That's a rocket right enough," admitted Billee.

"Like the time we was after cattle rustlers," said Yellin' Kid,
referring to an occasion, not fully set forth in any of the books,
when, as the Diamond X took after a gang of cattle thieves, rockets
were used as signals by the marauders to communicate with separated
bands.