g to
the bill.

They were all of the long-horned species, and some of them were very
large. The train was run on a sidetrack, and as fast as the cars were
emptied they were moved further down the sidetrack until every car had
been emptied.

"Oh, my, Fred!" said Evelyn, "surely some of those cattle must have been
hurt, crowded as they were in those cars, with such long horns."

A careful inspection was made and not one was found to be seriously
hurt. Fred had stipulated with the ranchmen whom he had bought front
that only a given number should be placed in a car, and Superintendent
Westervelt had warned the employees of the road not to exceed the limit.

That night Fred and Terry rode all around the enclosed part of the range
on the lookout for wolves, and also to let the cowboys see that they
were expected to do their work faithfully.

The new cattle grazed incessantly, but nothing occurred during the night
to start an alarm among them. The majority of them, as dark set in, laid
down to sleep or to chew their cud.

The two boys turned in at about two o'clock in the morning.

The next day one of the cowboys came in and reported that somebody down
at the lower end of the ranch had cut out a complete panel of the barbed
wire, thus leaving a wide gap for the cattle to go through.

Fred and Terry hurried down there on their horses with their
Winchesters, accompanied by two of their most expert and faithful
cowboys and made a thorough investigation.

They could see the tracks of three men, who had probably cut the wires;
but they were unable to find the trail of any cattle passing through the
gap. In fact, none of the cattle had done any grazing that far down.

They sent a cowboy back up to the ranch-house and had him bring down a
coil of wire and the necessary tools to connect it with the wires that
had been cut, and when that was done they detailed one-half of their
force to watch the line of the fence at that end of the ranch during the
following night.

They taught them a series of signals, which must be given and answered
before firing at any one.

"Now, boys," said Fred, "be careful. We don't want any innocent man
hurt, but if you find any one tampering with the fence give him a chance
to cut just one wire to establish his guilt and then call a halt. If he
doesn't hold up open fire on him, and keep firing until he comes down.
Both Olcott and I will be moving about the greater part of the night. We
want al