"Any trace of which way they went?" asked Bud.

"There is--up to a certain point," admitted Snake.

"What do you mean?" the boy rancher asked.

"Well, I mean we could trace the cattle down the valley up to
that low place between the hills-a sort of pass. And then all
trace of 'em was lost."

"Lost!" repeated Nort.

"Yes, sir, lost!" declared Snake. "You couldn't see any more
signs of 'em than if they'd been lifted up in one of them flying
machines and histed up over the mountain! That's th' funny part
of this raid."

"There have been some other queer things around here," said Dick.
"There was that bottle last night."

"What was that?" asked Snake, quickly.

"There was some promiscuous shooting around here last night,"
said Bud. "I'll tell you about it as soon as we get the straight
of this rustler business. Maybe there's some connection. But I
wonder----"

He was interrupted by a voice singing, and the song was one of
the usual cowboy refrains, though the voice was rather better