oices.

"Rustlers!" cried Bud, understanding at once what it all meant now.
"Dirk! Chot! Come on back! The rustlers are here! It's a trick!
Come on back!"

"Rustlers!" exclaimed Nort.

"Yes!" shouted Bud. "That's their game! They tried to scare us so
they could work in from the other side, and run off a bunch of steers.
Dirk! Chot!" he cried again, making a megaphone of his hands, and
sending his cry out into the night.

"Whoo-oop!" came faintly back to the boys, and then the thud of rapidly
moving hoofs mingled with the movement of the cattle. For the steers
and cows that were being hazed to the railroad yard were now in motion.

"Put some more wood on!" cried Bud. "If they stampede this way it may
hold 'em back!"

"Will they stampede?" asked Dick.

"No telling. Somebody's in among 'em, over on that side, trying to cut
out a bunch. We've got to held 'em in if we can! Get on your ponies!"

It was the work of but a few seconds to do this. The ponies had been
staked out not far from the fire, which was now burning brightly from
the amount of greasewood piled on it. Bud was first in the saddle, but
his cousins were not far behind him.

And, as they mounted, and started to ride around the herd, to hold the
now frightened and uneasy animals in check, Dirk and Chot galloped in
out of the distant darkness.

"What's the matter?" shouted Dirk.

"Rustlers!" yelled Bud. "They tried that lasso stunt to draw you in
from the far side, and now they're over there trying to cut out some
steers."

"Well, I guess we'll have something to say about that!" grimly observed
Chot. "Come on!"

Clapping spurs to his pony, he and Dirk began the work of milling the
cattle--that is, getting them to move around in a circle rather than
dash off in a straight line stampede. This turning of the herd, into a
circular instead of a straight movement, is the only way to save the
lives of the animals, or prevent them from being driven off by thieves.

Dick and Nort had been on Diamond X ranch long enough to understand
what was being attempted, and they joined with Bud in the work. As
Chot and Dirk rode back to take the stations they had left, firing
their guns and shouting to turn the leaders, Bud and his cousins did
the same in their locality.

As yet they had caught no sight of the rustlers, but it was very
evident that these unscrupulous men were at work, trying to drive off
some of the valuable animals, all fattened