The Boy Ranchers at Spur Creek or Fighting the Sheep Herders   By: Willard F. Baker

[Illustration: Cover art]

[Frontispiece: SNAKE CAUGHT HOLD OF THE ANIMAL'S LEFT HORN. "The Boy Ranchers at Spur Creek."]

THE BOY RANCHERS

AT SPUR CREEK

OR

Fighting the Sheep Herders

by

WILLARD F. BAKER

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY

THE BOY RANCHERS SERIES

By WILLARD F. BAKER

12mo. Cloth. Frontispiece

THE BOY RANCHERS or Solving the Mystery at Diamond X

THE BOY RANCHERS IN CAMP or The Water Fight at Diamond X

THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL or The Diamond X After Cattle Rustlers

THE BOY RANCHERS AMONG THE INDIANS or On the Trail of the Yaquis

THE BOY RANCHERS AT SPUR CREEK or Fighting the Sheep Herders

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, New York

COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY

THE BOY RANCHERS AT SPUR CREEK

Printed in U. S. A.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I SHOTS IN THE NIGHT II MISSING PAPERS III ON THE TRAIL IV AROUND THE CAMPFIRE V AT SPUR CREEK VI THE ALARM VII A PARLEY VIII SUSPICIONS IX A CALL FOR HELP X DEL PINZO'S HAND XI COWBOY FUN XII AFTER THE RUSTLERS XIII A CLOUD OF DUST XIV THE SHEEP ARRIVE XV A BATTLE OF WITS XVI STRANGE ACTIONS XVII "WE CROWED TOO SOON!" XVIII SKIRMISHES XIX OPEN WARFARE XX THE FLAG OF TRUCE XXI A LEGAL CONTEST XXII NORT'S PLAN XXIII IN DISGUISE XXIV THE BRONTOTHERIUM XXV THE END OF THE SHEEP

THE BOY RANCHERS AT SPUR CREEK

CHAPTER I

SHOTS IN THE NIGHT

With a rattle and a clatter the muddy flivver stopped with a squeak of brakes in front of Diamond X ranch house. From the car leaped three boys, one of them carrying a small leather pouch.

"Here's the mail!" yelled this lad Bud Merkel by name, and his cousins, Nort and Dick Shannon, added the duet of their voices to his as they cried:

"Mail's in! Lots of letters!"

"Any for me?" asked Nell, reaching out her hand toward Bud. "Don't tell me there isn't!" she pleaded.

"Well, I'm sorry, Sis," began Bud, teasingly, "there was one for you, but driving in we ran over a rattler and "

"Don't you believe him, Nell!" consoled Nort, who didn't altogether agree with Bud's teasing of his sister. "Your letters are safe in the pouch."

"Oh, there are letters , then, are there not just one ?" cried Nell with shining eyes. "Thanks a whole lot."

"Don't thank me thank the postmaster or whoever wrote you the letters!" laughed Nort.

Bud had sat down on a bench outside the ranch house and was opening the mail pouch. His mother came to the door of the kitchen, wiping flour from her hands, for though Mrs. Merkel kept a "hired girl," and though Nell assisted, yet the mother of Bud insisted on doing much of the work herself, and very able she was, too.

"Any letters for your father?" she asked.

"Two or three," answered Bud, as he looked over the envelopes. "And one for you, Mother."

"Well, take your father's mail to him when you've finished sorting," suggested Mrs. Merkel. "He said he was expecting something of importance. You'll find him over in the bunk house looking after Mr. Watson."

"Mr. Watson !" shouted Bud with a laugh. "Do you mean Yellin' Kid?"

"Oh, I guess that's what you call him," assented Mrs. Merkel as she opened her letter. "But his name's Watson."

"Guess you're the only one who remembers that, Ma," chuckled Dick Shannon, for though Mrs. Merkel was only his aunt, she was almost universally called "Ma" on the ranch of Diamond X.

"Yellin' Kid isn't any worse, is he?" asked Bud.

"Oh, no, but your father wanted to change the bandages and it takes some time. You'll find him pretty nearly finished, I guess, though you'd better take his mail to him there."