Bud bent a steady look upon the boy. He saw that Tad was speaking the truth.
"Chunky roped the black by one of its hind feet just as the animal was taking the jump. Chunky got a bad fall, but he held fast to the black till the others could get their ropes on it."
"Hurray!" shouted Bud, carried away by his enthusiasm. "But what about the Angel, eh? Get him too, did you say?"
"I jumped the fence after him, and ran a race with him out into the foothills, where I managed to get my lariat over his head and pulled him down. We had quite a scrimmage, but I should have lost him if I hadn't had help. The boys came to my rescue just in time."
"Huh!" grunted the cowboy, observing his companion with twinkling eyes. "You've got anything roped and hobbled that I ever saw."
That was Bud's only comment at the moment, but it carried with it a world of praise, causing Tad to blush.
All the rest of the afternoon was devoted to securing the animals that they had captured. Not a horse had escaped. Shortly after sunset the task was completed and the horse-hunters gave utterance to their feelings in a series of triumphant yells.
In the meantime three of the men had been sent back to bring over the camp outfit, which, owing to the fact that it had to follow a round-about trail, did not get in until some time after dark. Ned and Walter had accompanied the men back to camp to assist in packing their own outfit, Tad and Stacy remaining to keep watch over the prizes that they had captured.
Dinner that night, though a late one, was an occasion of boisterous good-fellowship, the two happy Pony Rider Boys coming in for much good-natured raillery.
"Don't want to join us, do you, kiddie?" asked Bud quizzically.
"I'd like to, of course. But it is not possible," answered Tad.
"We'll be off in the morning with our stock, you know. Better come along. You'll dry up and blow away down on the desert. It's had medicine where you're headed for."
"We're used to taking our medicine," laughed Tom Parry. "You probably have noticed as much in the short time you've known our bunch."
"You bet I have," laughed Bud. "And you take it in big doses, too."
"Allopathic doses," interjected the Professor.
"Don't know what they might be," answered Bud. "Sounds as though it might be something hard to swallow, though."