It is a
cinch that the Whipple gang has got it in for us, and this is just the
beginning of it. You will soon see other evidences of their work."
"But why should they hev it in fer us?" asked Bud. "We ain't never done
nothin' ter them."
"I don't know, but I have several ideas."
"What are they?"
"There are two or three things to be considered. In the first place they
have it in for the ranch on general principles. You know Fred Sturgis
said in his letter that he and his boys had driven the gang away from
the ranch. That is reason number one. Then we are strangers in this part
of the country, and they have seen us and have us sized up for a lot of
boys, and, therefore, easy marks for them. Again, we have a big bunch of
cattle, which Whipple and his bunch think we will not be able to protect
against them.
"They may have learned that we are deputy United States marshals. That
is enough to condemn us in their eyes. They are all old and fugitive
criminals, and if we knew them I think that we would find that they are
all wanted in one or more of the States and Territories, and that the
aggregate amount of rewards which have been offered for them, dead or
alive, would amount to a neat sum. They do not need marshals in this
part of the country. There may be other reasons why they will make war
on us, which we will learn later, but the ones I have mentioned are
sufficient for them to make themselves very troublesome.
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