be secured against the raging
elements. It lay several miles below the homestead, and if the drifting
herd reached the bend before darkness, there was a fighting chance to
halt the cattle in a protected nook. The cove in mind was larger than
the one in which the corral was built, and if a successful entrance
could only be effected--but that was the point.

"This storm is quartering across the valley," said Joel, during a lull,
"and if we make the entrance, we'll have to turn the herd on a direct
angle from the course of the wind. If the storm veers to the north, it
will sweep us out of the valley, with nothing to shelter the cattle this
side of the Prairie Dog. It's make that entrance, or abandon the herd,
and run the chance of overtaking it."

"We'll rush them," said Dell. "Remember how those men, the day we
branded, rushed the cattle into the branding chute."

"They could do things that we wouldn't dare--those were trail men."

"The cattle are just as much afraid of a boy as of a man; they don't
know any difference. You point them and I'll rush them. Remember that
story Mr. Quince told about a Mexican boy throwing himself across a
gateway, and letting a thousand range horses jump over him? You could do
that, too, if you had the nerve. Watch me rush them."

It seemed an age before the cut-bank was reached. The meanderings of the
creek were not even recognizable, and only an occasional willow could be
identified, indicating the location of the present drift. Occasionally
the storm thickened or lulled, rendering it impossible to measure the
passing time, and the dread of nightfall was intensified. Under such
stress, the human mind becomes intensely alert, and every word of
warning, every line of advice, urged on the boys by their sponsors, came
back in their hour of trial with an applied meaning. This was no dress
parade, with the bands playing and horses dancing to the champing of
their own bits; no huzzas of admiring throngs greeted this silent,
marching column; no love-lit eyes watched their hero or soft hand waved
lace or cambric from the border of this parade ground.

A lone hackberry tree was fortunately remembered as growing near the
entrance to the bend which formed the pocket. When receiving the cattle
from the trail, it was the landmark for dropping the cripples. The tree
grew near the right bank of the creek, the wagon trail passed under it,
making it a favorite halting place when freighting in supplies.