smoke-cloud, hanging low over the creek bed, and before Joel was aware
of his presence, Dell rode up to the very bank under which the fire
was burning.

"How do you like an all-night drift?" shouted Dell. "How do snowballs
taste for breakfast?"

"Come under the cliff and unpack," soberly replied Joel. "I hope this
is the last lesson in winter herding; I fail to see any romance in it."

The horses were unsaddled and fed. "Give an account of yourself," urged
Dell, as the brothers returned to the fire. "How did you make out during
the night?"

"I just humped my back like the other cattle and took my medicine,"
replied Joel. "An Indian dances to keep warm, and I sang. You have no
idea how good company cattle are. One big steer laid his ear in Rowdy's
flank to warm it. I took him by the horn any number of times and woke
him up; he was just staggering along asleep. I talked to all the lead
cattle, named them after boys we knew at school, and sometimes they
would look up when I called to them. And the queerest thing happened!
You remember old Redman, our teacher, back in Ohio. Well, I saw him last
night. There was a black two-year-old steer among the lead cattle, and
every time I looked at him, I saw old Redman, with his humped shoulder,
his pug nose, and his half-shut eyes. It took the storm, the sullen
drift, to put that expression in the black steer's face, but it was old
Redman. During the two terms of school that he taught, he licked me a
score of times, but I dared him to come out of that black steer's face
and try it again. He must have heard me, for the little black steer
dropped back and never came to the lead again."

"And had you any idea where you were?" inquired Dell, prompted by his
own experience.

"I was right at home in the lead of the herd. The tepee might get lost,
but I couldn't. I knew we must strike the Prairie Dog, and the cattle
were within half a mile of it when day broke. Once I got my bearings,
Rowdy and I turned on the herd and checked the drift."

A late breakfast fortified the boys for the day. It was fully
twenty-five miles back to the Beaver, but with the cattle weakened, the
horses worn, it was decided to rest a day before starting on the return.
During the afternoon, Dell went back and threw in the stragglers, and
towards evening all the cattle were put under loose herd and pointed
north. The sun had stripped the snow, and a comfortable camp was made
under the cliff. Wood was scarce o