"Sort of heading that way," replied Bud, significantly.

Together the boy ranchers rode on toward the fire, silently for a
time, the only sounds being the thud of their ponies' feet and
the creak of saddle leathers and stirrups. The smell of the
burning grass was more pronounced now, and the pall of black
smoke was rolling upward in a larger cloud.

"It's a big fire!" exclaimed Nort. "How can we stop it, Bud?"

"It will soon burn out," the western lad replied. "I happen to
know where this grass is. It's a place where we couldn't very
well bring water to, and if it doesn't rain much, as it hasn't
lately, the fodder gets as dry as tinder. There's a sort of
swale, or valley, filled with this dry grass and it's just
naturally burning itself off."

"Then no very great harm will be done; will there?" asked Dick.

"Not much, unless the cattle get frightened and start to
stampede. That's what I'm afraid of, and why I'm riding over
there. We can't hope to put out the fire." Owing to the fact that
the grass was so dry that no cattle would feed on it, there were
no steers in the immediate vicinity of the blaze Had the fodder
been cut it would have made excellent hay, but it would need to
be cut green to bring this about. As it was, the tall grass had
just naturally dried up as it attained its growth.

"It doesn't take even as much as a blaze like this to start a
stampede," said Bud, as he and his cousins rode nearer to the