"There goes Yellin' Kid!" cried Babe, as he darted away from Nort's side.
"Killed?" asked the boy, who could not see just then, as some water got in his eyes.
"Killed? Shucks, no!" yelled Babe exultantly. "He rode into one Greaser and knocked him seven ways from Sunday, and roped another, yankin' him out of the saddle! Oh, boy!" and with a yell Babe ran to join in the fray.
Nort cleared his face of blood and water long enough to see Snake Purdee keel over out of his saddle as a bullet struck him, though it afterward developed that the cowboy was not badly hurt.
Slim was slightly wounded, and Mr. Merkel had a narrow escape. But though the Diamond X bunch took hard knocks they gave harder ones. Nor did the professors escape scathless, for Mr. Wright was grazed by a spent bullet, and his helper was horned by one of the wild steers.
"There they go! We've made 'em run for cover!" shrilly cried Yellin' Kid as he spurred after the last of the lawless men. "Yip! Yippy! There they go!"
And go the rascals did--that is, those who were not wounded or captured.
Diamond X cowboys were in complete possession of the mysterious camp of the two professors. The fight had been won by the Merkel forces, and at no very great sacrifices on their part. One or two of the cowboys had been wounded, but not seriously, though two horses had been killed, and also one steer. On the other hand, the enemy, as represented by the Greasers and some cowboys who were in the pay of the two professors, were in need of hospital treatment in several cases; one serious. But they had brought the trouble on themselves by their lawless acts.
Babe helped Nort tie a bandage around the bullet-cut on his forehead, and then, with his eyes cleared of the blood, Nort was able to see that victory had come to Diamond X.
Bud's quick act, in lassoing Del Pinzo, just as the latter was about to ride down Nort, had been one of the turning points in the fight. When the Greasers saw their leader pulled from his saddle they turned and would have fled, but for the cowboys who surrounded them, compelling them to surrender with the grim words:
Nort saw Del Pinzo, and several of the others, being roped and tied on ponies, and then his attention was attracted to Dick, who came limping up with a rueful face.