"Oh! isn't that awful?" Grace Mason said. "Is it far from here?"

"Is what far from here?" demanded Rhoda.

"Where this battle took place," replied the startled girl. "Let us
go back to the house--do!"

But the others were eager to go with the band of cowboys that were
at once got together to follow the raiders. Mr. Hammond, however,
would not hear to this proposal. He would not even let Walter go
with the party.

"You _young_ folks start along for the house," he advised.
"Can't run the risk of letting you get all shot up by a party of
rustlers. What would your folks ever say to me?" and he rode away
laughing at the head of the cavalcade chosen to follow the Mexican
horse thieves.

"No hope for us," said Walter, rather piqued by Mr. Hammond's
refusal. "I would like to see what they do when they overtake that
bunch of Mexicans."

"If they overtake them, you mean," said Bess. "Why, the thieves
have nearly twenty hours' start."

"But they cannot travel anywhere near as fast as father and those
others will," explained Rhoda. "Dear me! it does seem as though the
Long Bow boys ought to have looked out for their own horses. I
don't like to have daddy ride off on such errands. Sometimes there
are accidents."