The boy promised. He had learned another lesson.
Not until the evening meal was ended did Dan unburden his mind to Sudden and the foreman. They had already heard of the cattle incident--Yorky having given a graphic and highly-ornamented version of it to the company in the bunkhouse.
'So you had to git a Trenton outa trouble agin, Dan,' Burke remarked. 'That girl didn't oughta be allowed out alone.'
'It wasn't her fault,' the young man found himself saying, and then, 'We got somethin' more important than that to discuss. Maitland is beginning to put the screw on--he won't even let me have cash for runnin' expenses. There's tradesmen in town to be settled with, an' pay-day comin' along.'
'The boys won't mind waitin',' Burke put in gruffly.
'I know, Bill, an' that's why I don't want 'em to,' Dan said. 'I've an offer for a hundred three-year-olds; the buyer will take over an' pay at the Bend. It's a poor price, an' will mean hangin' up our start for two-three days, but--'
'Needs must, when the banker goes on the prod,' Sudden misquoted.
'You said it,' Dan replied with a smile, the first they had seen from him all the evening. 'Well, that eases my mind. I wouldn't like to go leavin' debts to folks who can't afford to lose, an' Bill here without a shot in the locker. An' talkin' of goin', Doc Malachi wants to come along; I said he might.'
The foreman looked dubious. 'Does he understand what he's lettin' hisself in for?'
'I made that plain,' Dan replied, and repeated the conversation, finishing with, 'He might be useful.'
'Shore, but how come he knows we're in a jam?' Burke asked.
'He wouldn't say, but I can guess. He's been seein' a lot o' Maitland's girl since the dance, an' she helps in the bank. Her father trusts her--he told me as much.'
'That explains the 'experiment' too,' Sudden smiled. 'I hope he wins out on it. What about hittin' the hay--we got a coupla busy days to shove behind us?'
With the coming of daylight, they were at work, rounding up, cutting out, and road-branding the steers to be disposed of. Small as the herd was, these operations took time and entailed much riding, for the cattle were spread over a wide range. About half a mile from the ranch-house, a big bunch of steers was collected by four of the outfit, and from these Dover and Sudden roped the selected beasts, dragged them to the nearby fire, where Lidgett hog- tied them and Slow applied the iron.
The bellowing of the branded brutes, blinding sun, swirling clouds of dust, acrid smell of burnt hair, and the varied objurgations of the toilers, who sweated and swore with equal fervour, presented a scene of confusion from which it seemed impossible for order to emerge. By the arrival of dusk, however, the herd was ready to take the trail, and the discarded cattle dispersed again. The boys raced for the river, to rid themselves of the real estate they had acquired during the day. When they arrived at the bunkhouse, Paddy affected astonishment.
'Shure, Dan should 'a' told me he was takin' on new han's,' he said.
'Gwan, you of grub-spoiler,' Slow retorted. 'Hump yore-self. I'm hungry enough to eat you--raw--if I had a ton o' salt.'
'An' it's on'y a mouthful I'd be for ye,' the Irishman grinned, and Slow, whose mouth was built on generous lines, retired from the combat.
At daybreak the herd was on the move, Dover in charge, with Blister, Tiny, Noisy, and Sudden as his crew.
'They're in prime condition an' the trail ain't difficult,' the ranoher said. 'If we drive 'em middlin' hard we oughta make the Bend before dark to-morrow. Me an' Tiny'll be in front, Noisy an' Blister on the flanks, an' Jim'll keep the 'drag' goin'.' Very soon the riders had the steers lined out, and travelling at a steady pace. Cattle on the trail can, in normal circumstances, cover from fifteen to twenty miles a day, according to the nature of the country. Dan was hoping to do better than this on a short drive, but he was too good a cowman to 'tucker out' the animals by pressing them too early.
The hours slid by, and the drive proceeded uneventfully. Now and then an adventurous beast dropped out of line and made a break for freedom, to be chased, brought back, and called uncomplimentary things by a sweating rider. Sudden, in the rear, was kept busy hazing the few stragglers always to be found in any trail-herd.
The approach of night found them on a plateau some miles in extent and nearly half-way to their destination. As the feed was good, and a stream adjacent, Dan decided to halt there. The tired cattle were watered, bunched together, and the rancher, with Noisy, took the first spell of night-herding. The other three squatted round a fire, and having fed, smoked and talked. In the distance, where a black blob showed indistinctly in the half-light, they could hear the watchers crooning to their charges.
'Dan's a fine fella, but as an opery singer he'd shore be a total loss,' Blister laughed. 'Cows can't have no ear for music, or you couldn't soothe 'em down with a voice that'd scare a kid into convulsions.'
'They sleep to git away from it,' Tiny explained. 'That's why I'm a pore night-herder--the critters stay awake to listen to me.'
'That won't win you nothin'--you take yore turn,' Blister chuckled. 'Fancy tryin' that one; you got about as much savvy as a mule.'
Before the outraged cowboy could reply to this aspersion, Sudden cut in: 'An' there, though he ain't intendin' it, he's payin' yu a compliment, Tiny. Lemme tell yu somethin' I actually witnessed. An' of darkie was drivin' a buckboard behind a big, hammer-headed mule with ears like wings. All at once, the beast stalled on him, just stiffened his legs and stood stock-still like he'd taken root. Well, the nigger tried persuasion first; he got down an' talked.
' `Now looky, Abram, dis ain't no way to act. Ain't I allus treated yoh well? W'at foh yoh wanter play dis trick on Uncle Eph?'
'He said a lot more, but it didn't do any good; Abram just curled his lips back over his teeth an' laughed at him. So the darkie goes to pullin' him, then to pushin' the buckboard on his heels, but he might as well have tried to shift a house. Then Uncle Eph got his dander up. He climbs into his wagon, unearths a stout ash-plant, an' lays into that mule like all possessed. Yu ever seen a fella beatin' a carpet what ain't been cleaned for years? Well, that was how it was. I reckon yu could 'a' heard the racket half a mile off, an' the dust came out'n that critter's hide in clouds--it was like a sand-storm. But Abram never stirred an inch, an' when at last the nigger dropped back on his seat too tired to lam any more, that mule lets out a sort o' sound--jeerin' like--which made his master madder'n ever.
' `Light a fire under him,' one o' the onlookers advised.
'This put new life into Uncle Eph. He scouted round in the buckboard, produced wood an' paper, built his fire an' put a match to it. `I burn de damn belly off'n yoh, Abram,' he said viciously, an' when the flames shot up an' the mule stirs hisself, he lets out a yell of triumph. But he was a bit previous; that durned animal moved just fur enough forward to bring the buckboard right over the fire, an' took root again; if Uncle Eph hadn't got mighty active he'd 'a' had nothin' but a fiery chariot to ride in. An' then Abram turns his head an' closesone eye in the most deliberate wink I ever saw. No, sir, don't tell me mules ain't got savvy.'
They laughed at the story, and Tiny said, 'I remember once--'
But what it was they were not to hear, for from over the plateau came the crash of guns and bellowing of scared steers, followed by the thunder of many hammering hooves. 'Hell's joy, the herd is gone,,' Blister cried.
Springing to their saddles, they scampered towards the hubbub, dragging out their rifles as they went. Sudden caught sight of a whitish object flapping in the gloom, and took a snap shot. The object vanished, but he did not stay to investigate--the important thing was to stop the stampeding cattle. By hard and, in the dark, hazardous riding, they got ahead of some of the frightened brutes, turned, and drove them back to camp.
'Stay here an' ride hard on this lot, Blister,' Sudden said. 'We'll go hunt for more.'
On their way they met a horseman shepherding about a dozen steers; he proved to be Dover.
'We'd just got 'em settlin' down nicely when the hullabaloo began,' he said. 'Somebody loosed off a gun, an' another of 'em flapped a sheet or blanket an' shouted. You got some, you say? Good work. Lucky they was tired-- ain't liable to run far. yeah, Noisy's all right; he's takin' in a small gather.'
Throughout the hours of darkness the search went on, and when dawn arrived, a count showed that they were only ten short.
'Better'n I hoped,' Dan said. 'We may pick up one or two more on the way.'
