so." To his mother he said: "I'll ride over, too,
with Nort and Dick."

"Will it be safe?" asked Mrs. Merkel, with a quick look at the foreman.
"I wish Mr. Merkel would come."

"Oh, it'll be _safe_ enough," the foreman answered. "Those Greasers
won't come back, especially after dark. They'll lay low. I'll send
Babe over with the boys."

"Oh, joy!" murmured Nort, and the eyes of Dick sparkled. This was
living life as they had dreamed it--a night ride to a camp that had
been attacked by savage men!

"Get on some other clothes," suggested Bud to his cousins, as they left
the table. "You'll spoil those in no time, on a horse."

"All right," agreed Dick, and soon he and his brother had made the
change. If not exactly attired as were the cowboys, their outfits were
sufficiently practical for the time being.

"Can't we have guns?" asked Nort, while some of the ranch hands were
saddling ponies for the little party that was to take the antiseptics
to the wounded men.

"Know how to shoot?" asked Babe, who felt his responsibility at taking
two tenderfeet on the trail at night.

"A little," admitted Nort, and Dick nodded in agreement.

"Wa'al, I don't reckon you'll have any use for 'em," said the assistant
foreman, "but it's just as well to pack 'em. I'll get you a couple
guns," and he started toward the bunk house while Bud and his cousins
mounted their ponies and prepared to take the trail.

"They'll do," Babe said to Bud in a low voice, after passing to Dick
and Nort the guns. "Lots to learn, but they've got the grit, and they
ain't too much set up. They'll do."

Then they hit the trail.

CHAPTER VI

THE RUSTLERS

Diamond X ranch was one of the largest in that part of the country.
Mr. Merkel's holdings were in one of our western states, not far from
the Mexican border, which fact was not altogether pleasing to him. It
made it too easy for cattle thieves to operate, and more than once
Diamond X had suffered from depredations of the "rustlers," as they
were called, doubtless from the fact that they "rustled" or "hustled"
cattle that were not their own, off lawful ranges.

But it was all part of the day's work, and Mr. Merkel's ranches were
too valuable to be disposed of easily, even though their proximity to
Mexico, the home of lawless "Greasers" and half breeds, was too close
for ease of mind.

Diamond X, like many other western ranches, took its name from the
brand used to mark the cattle t