He had not even brought his rifle, as Sudden had told him to do.

The rifle had been a nuisance, and Johnny conveniently forgot it once or twice, and then had told himself that it was just a notion of old Sudden's--and what was the use of packing something you never would need?
He had not carried it with him for more than three weeks.

But if he had it now, he knew that it would not help him any.

The thieves had hours the start of him.

It had been just after sunrise that he had seen them--he, a Rolling R man, sailing foolishly around in an airplane and actually _seeing_ a bunch of Rolling R horses being stolen, without caring enough to think what the fellows were up to! Self-disgust seized him nauseatingly.