ankly. "We want to stock our range, and
crippled cattle are as good as gold to us."

Spurs clanked as the men turned to their mounts. The boys followed, and
Dell overtook the blond Texan. "If you need a hand on the drag end of
your herd," said the boy to the tall foreman, "I'll get up a fresh horse
and overtake you."

"Make it a horse apiece," said the young man, "and I'll sign your
petition for the post office--when this country has one. I'm as good
as afoot."

The other foremen mounted their horses. "I'll overtake you," said Joel
to the trio, "as soon as I change mounts. Whoever has the lead herd,
come in on the water above the field. The upper pools are the deepest,
and let your cattle cover the water evenly."

"I'm in the lead," said the pock-marked man. "But we'll have to come up
to the water in trailing formation. The cattle have suffered from
thirst, and they break into a run at sight of water, if grazed up to it.
You may take one point and I'll take the other."

The existing drouth promised a good schooling for the brothers. Among
the old philosophies, contact was said to be educational. Wells Brothers
were being thrown in contact with the most practical men that the
occupation, in all pastoral ages, had produced. The novelty of trailing
cattle vast distances had its origin with the Texans. Bred to the
calling, they were masters of the craft. In the hands of an adept outfit
of a dozen men, a trail herd of three thousand beeves had all the
mobility of a brigade of cavalry. The crack of a whip was unheard on the
trail. A whispered order, followed by a signal to the men, and the herd
turned, grazed to its contentment, fell into column formation, and took
up its march--a peaceful march that few armies have equaled. Contact
with these men, the rank and file of that splendid cavalry which once
patrolled the range industry of the West, was priceless to the boys.

The lead herd reached the Beaver valley at noon. When within a mile of
the water, the point men gave way to the foremen and Joel Wells. But
instead of dropping back, the dust-covered men rode on into the lead,
the action being seemingly understood by every one except the new hand
on the point. Joel was alert, felt the massive column of beeves yield to
his slightest pressure, as a ship to the hand of the helmsman, as he
veered the leaders out of the broken trails and guided the herd around
the field to the upper pools. On nearing the water, the deposed po