So one liked his loyalty more than one pitied his ignorance.
No one paid any attention to the boys when they rode away from the Star Circle Ranch.

They might be going hunting, or just for a ride, for all the ranchmen knew or cared.

They struck off toward the northwest, in which direction lay Jimtown, with Moose Lake far beyond, nestling in the foothills of the Rockies.
It was a beautiful day, with the haze of fall shrouding the distance, a hint of brown tingeing the prairie grass, the sun a bit milder with its rays and paler in its face than in midsummer.

And the old sun seemed a trifle lazy, as if lying back awaiting the frost that would nip the rolling mesa, to be followed by the gales that would sweep across it, then by the whirling blizzards that would hold the plains in their frigid grasp.

Yes, it was a beautiful day--a day on which it was very hard to stay mad.
Creeping across the northern distance the boys saw two wagons.