“I never thought of that,” Bob said, in a low tone. “That’s another page made clear. Oh! but all this is mighty interesting to me, I tell you, Frank. I only wish I could write shorthand, and I’d have it all down in black and white.”
“Huh! better have it written in your memory, where it can never be rubbed out,” remarked Frank, dismounting, as all the others were doing.
“What’s the programme, Frank?” asked the Kentucky boy, a short time later, after they had taken the horses into a little bay, which the Colonel called a cul-de-sac, where they could be easily kept by piling up some of the big rocks at the mouth; though one cowboy must be left to guard them.
“As I understand it,” replied Frank, “it’s first a bite to eat, and then down the canyon for ours. When we come to that hole in the wall, we’ll slip through, and find out where we bring up.”
“But Frank, do you really believe all that herd passed through that little opening? Why, they’d fill any sort of cave; and besides, how under the sun would they get anything to eat?”
“Well, remember that I’m only guessing,” returned his chum; “but here’s the way I figure it out. That cleft in the wall runs back some little way, and perhaps keeps getting bigger all the while. Presently it turns into a regular trail over the rocks, that the cattle will follow single file. And mark me, Bob, sooner or later they’ll turn up in a valley among the mountains here, that no cowboy has ever set eyes on—that is, unless he’s in with Mendoza.”
“Sounds like a fairy story, Frank,” objected Bob, who was very practical.
“Lots of things do, until you really pass through the experience, and then you know they are the real article. I feel that my dad believes the same way I do; and Bart Heminway, too. But we’ll know after a while, Bob, if we just hold our horses. There, get busy with some of that grub you’re carrying. We don’t have to depend on getting game this time, in order to make sure of a supper.”
The moon was up when they prepared to quit the spot. One rider was left behind to guard the saddle band.
Down the canyon then, they went like a bunch of shadows, flitting silently along. All talking above whispers was positively forbidden. Reaching the spot where that mysterious opening occurred in the wall of the canyon, Scotty slipped inside without a moment’s delay, the others following after, one at a time.