'Pardner, we done noble,' Jed said. 'Reckon when we git 'em to the main herd we can call it a day.'
'Suits me,' Sudden grinned, and smacked the nose of a straying steer with his rope. 'I certainly hope yu got a good cook ; my belt's damn near slippin' off'n me.'
'Peg-leg's the finest cook in Texas--he says so hisself,' Jed laughed. 'An' he shore can talk to mules in the language they understand.'
In their search for cattle they had drifted some distance from the plain, and dark was creeping up by the time they reached the herd. The sight of a big fire and the near-by chuck-wagon brought a doleful expression on Jed's face.
'Gotta sleep on our saddles to-night, seemin'ly,' he said.
'Yu'll be some lucky if yu sleep a-tall,' a new voice put in.
Another rider had caught them up--a wispy little man, nearing fifty, from whose brown face, wrinkled like a walnut, small blue eyes peered at the pair amusedly.
''Lo, Jeff,' Jed greeted, and turning to his partner, added, 'This is our foreman--a pretty ornery fella, as yu can see, Green.'
The little man chuckled and shoved out a paw. 'Heard o' yu from the 0I' Man,' he said. 'We can use yu.' He waved towards the grazing cattle. 'The bunch is gettin' big an' wants watchin', which is why we're campin' alongside. Also, Sam is on the rampage, I reckon we gotta start workin' to-morrow.'
'Sufferin' cats!' wailed the cowboy. 'C'mon, Green, let's join the other loafers an' load up before this slavedriver makes it to-day.'
Having unsaddled and turned their mounts loose--the beasts were too tired to stray far--they joined the group squatting round the fire.
'Hey, Jed, how many yu fetch in?' Dumpy inquired.
'Coupla score, if it's any o' yore damned business,' Jed said.
'An' mighty good goin',' commented another.
'Aw, Jed knows the easy places,' the fat man gibed.
'Then I wish he'd picked on 'em,' Sudden said ruefully. 'I'll never see a pincushion again without feelin' sorry for it.'
There was a general laugh at this, for all the men were scratched and torn, despite the stout leather 'leggin's' they wore.
Sudden had a word with Sandy.
'We joined this outfit too soon,' he said whimsically. 'We'd oughta waited till they was ready to drive.'
'I wish we hadn't joined a-tall,' his friend replied. 'No, that ain't so neither, but--hell, what's the use?'
With which cryptic remark he rolled his blanket round him and went to sleep. Sudden, too tired even to wonder about this attitude, followed his example. Slumber must be made the most of ; if anything disturbed the cattle, there would be no more for any of them that night.
Chapter VII
SOON after dawn the men were astir and crowding round the fire, for the early air was keen. Breakfast over, Jeff divided his forces ; half were to begin the branding while the others continued to build up the herd. Sudden and Sandy, as not knowing the range, were allotted to the second task, a decision which--to the former's surprise, met with his friend's satisfaction.
'We're shorely outa luck,' he remarked tentatively.
'Suits me,' Sandy replied gaily. 'We'll show these hombres how to label long-horns.' He straightened his neckerchief, slapped the dust from his clothes, and fingered his chin uneasily. 'Say, Jim, yu got a razor?' He saw the dawning grin of comprehension on the other's face, and added hastily, 'These whiskers o' mine'll come out the wrong colour, yu know.'
'Mine's at the bunkhouse,' Sudden said. 'I saw the cook scrapin' his jaw a piece ago.'
Peg-leg obliged with a razor and a cracked mirror. 'Which if yo're goin' to this trouble on account o' Miss Carol, yu needn't,' he advised. 'She'll be too busy to look at yu.'
'I ain't,' Sandy stated, with a flash which contradicted the assertion. 'Can't stand a scrubby chin, that's all.'
The cook's grimace was one of disbelief--he had seen other new-comers suffering from the same affliction, but he said no more ; he was a man of few words but, as was once remarked, those few were frequently 'damn near as strong as his caw-fee.'
The branding promised to be a big job. Chutes were unknown in the south-west of that day, and each animal had to be dealt with separately. Sandy found he was to work with his friend. Sudden was waiting for him, a bundle of short tie-ropes (piggin strings) in his hand.
'Hey, yu lady-slayer,' he called. 'yank some o' them bawlin' brutes over here an' don't keep me waitin'.'
'They'll come so quick yu'll get dizzy,' the young man promised. 'I'll make yu think it's rainin' cows.'
Sudden smiled at the boyish boast. While his was the more dangerous and tricky task, he fancied he could keep ahead of Sandy. But that optimist had helpers and soon the tie-man had his hands full. The rays of the rising sun quickly drove the chill from the air, and growing in intensity, added to the discomfort of the workers. Perspiration drenched their faces but failed to remove the grime from the ever-rising clouds of dust. Sweat caked on the flanks of galloping mustangs. Cows bellowed and frightened calves blatted as they were hauled . willy-nilly to the fire. The shouts and rough banter of the riders merged with the rattle of horns in the milling herd. Sudden, looking up in a moment of respite, found Eden watching him.
'Good work, Green,' he said, and as Sandy with a whoop, rushed up another unwilling victim, roped and threw it, he added: 'Yore friend seems to know his job too.'
He rode off without waiting for a reply, and Sudden was glad ; the praise worried him. He stole a glance at Sandy--who was freeing his rope from the helpless steer--and was surprised to see that the boy's face was redder than even the fierce sun and his exertions warranted. He too had heard what the cattleman had said.
'yu boys have certainly made a hit with Sam,' the foreman commented.
Sudden grunted an agreement. He liked the outfit and its owner, and he was there to help ruin him. He tried to tell himself that the world, having made him an outlaw, was to blame for any consequences, but he could not make the argument convincing. Fortunately, he had little time for reflection ; the cutters were doing their work well.
'Told yu I'd make yu hustle, didn't I?' Sandy said, a little later.
''Pears to me some other fella fetches along a steer now an' then,' Sudden replied, as he mopped his dirt- streaked features. 'Say, I got an idea. yu swap jobs with me to-morrow an' yu won't have to worry 'bout shavin'.'
'Nothin' doin'. Wouldn't change places with yu for a blue stack.'
Sudden detected his involuntary glance over the plain to where Miss Carol was busy bunching the branded cattle into a separate herd, and his eyes twinkled understandingly. Sandy's work took him near that trim little figure.
'Shucks, I've done told Jeff yu can tie 'em two at a lick,' he said teasingly.
'I'm goin' to tell him that as a liar yu got Ananias beat a mile before he opens his mouth,' Sandy retorted, and to his horse, 'G'wan, yu son o' sin, we'll give this fella suthin' else to think about.'
He shot off towards the herd and had almost reached it when he saw something which made him swerve suddenly : a newly-branded steer, mad with rage and pain, was rushing full at Carol Eden, who, intent on her charges, did not see it. With a yell of warning, Sandy raced and swung his rope. The loop dropped over the brute's horns and with a flip, he sent the slack over the rump and spurred his mount to the left, jerking the hind legs from under the steer. As it crashed down, the girl became aware of her danger and jumped her pony away. The fall had taken the fight out of the steer ; as soon as the rope was removed it scrambled to its feet and lumbered off. Carol's face was pale.
'Thank you,' she smiled. 'I'm afraid you'll think I'm a tenderfoot to be caught like that.'
Sandy's customary assurance had deserted him ; he was the picture of confusion. Also, he was finding breathing difficult, for it had indeed been a near thing ; had he missed his throw. ... He shuddered at what might have been ; the pony rippedup, the rider on the ground, at the mercy of those sweeping, sharp-pointed horns. Hat in
