Bud was strongly inclined to heed Jerry's warning, but it was too vague to have any practical value--"about like Hen's note," Bud concluded.

"Well-meaning but hazy.
Like a red danger flag on a railroad crossing where the track is torn up and moved.

I saw one, once and my horse threw a fit at it and almost piled me.

I figured that the red flag created the danger, where I was concerned.

Still, I'd like to oblige Jerry and sidestep something or other, but..." His thoughts grew less distinct, merged into wordless rememberings and conjectures, clarified again into terse sentences which never reached the medium of speech.
"Well, I'll just make sure they don't try out Smoke when I'm not looking," he decided, and slipped away in the dark.
By a roundabout way which avoided the trail he managed to reach the pasture fence without being seen.